It's a Hex Life
by Grumpydrawer
Summary: This fanfic tells the story of how the Hex Girls first met, how they became a band, and gives more background on the Hex Girls and their lives before, during and after Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost.
1. Their Friendship Begins

_**Author's Note:**_ So a couple notes before you begin reading (just for clarity). This is all from Luna's POV because...well it just happened for chapter 1 and the beginning of 2, so I decided to keep it that way. It was a fun challenge not being able to change POVs and Luna needs more love in terms of fanfiction anyway. So why not I say!

This is also a more lighthearted Hex Girls fanfic. And boy do the girls need one. There are a few great Hex Girls fanfics out there, yet they're all so damn dark and depressing. Hell even many of the short and/or unfinished Hex Girls fanfics are dark. Not that there's anything wrong with dark and depressing, I just thought it was time to have a more lighthearted fanfic about them.

And two brief minor notes before you beginning reading. One this is before Dusk and Luna adopt those alias names, thus they're Jane St. James and Kimberly Moss for now. They get their 'rockstar' names before the Witch's Ghost starts at chapter six. And no, despite what this chapter may make you think, little of this fanfic takes place in their school.  
Two chapter's where the titles are parts of songs either sung by the Hex Girls or from movies/episodes they appeared in indicate that the chapter occurs during an actual Scooby movie or episode. The specific song lines being indicating the movie or episode that chapter is set during.

Anyway thanks for reading that lump of text. I hope you enjoy It's a Hex Life!

* * *

The office's walls were painted a bright shade of white which stood in stark contrast to the dark grey carpet of the room. Light was streaming in from a window behind a large oak desk, making its polished surface shine brightly. There were two filling cabinets on the wall space on the left side of the window while a large oak bookcase took up the wall space on the right side. Directly opposite the book case was an undecorated wooden door with a window around head height, allowing the occupant of the office to see whom was outside of it. Directly opposite the filing cabinets was a coffee table with a small money plant sitting in the middle of it. In between the door and the money plant were three simple plastic chairs. Sitting in two of them were two seventeen year old girls.

One of the girls had bright orange hair styled in a spherical fashion, light brown skin and brown eyes. Her only make-up was a light purple shade of lipstick on her lips. She was wearing a purple t-shirt and a black skirt which went down to around her knees whilst her feet were clad in a pair of black boots.

The other girl had short blonde hair styled in pigtails, pale white skin and dark brown eyes. She had a thin line black eyeliner round her eyes and complete green lipstick, framing her almost constant frown. The blonde was wearing a dark green hoodie, black trousers and black combat boots.

"When do you think he's coming back?" asked the orange haired girl as she turned to look at the girl seated next to her.

"No idea." muttered the blonde in annoyance. "It shouldn't take this long to get some damn papers."

A few minutes of silence passed between the two girls before the orange haired girl spoke again.

"Hey I'm Kimberly." said the purple clad girl. "What's your name?"

"Jane." said the blonde hair girl, just before the office door opened. In walked a slightly nerdy looking man wearing a suit and tortoise eyeglasses and a blonde hair girl wearing a blue and yellow cheer leading outfit carrying two blue pieces of paper and two locks.

"Sorry about the wait, the locker locks had been misplaced at the main office and it took a while to find them." apologized the man, with the distinct accent of an Englishman from the Surrey county, as the cheerleader passed Kimberly and Jane a lock and a blue sheet of paper. "This is Cindy the…..what was it again?"

"Cheer captain." said the cheerleader in annoyance.

"Ah yes this is Cindy, the schools cheer captain." said the man, ignoring Cindy's annoyance. "She'll be showing you around the school, thus you'll miss the remained of what would be the first class of the day." He then smiled kindly at the two girls as they stood up from their chairs. "Welcome to Oakhaven High School Jane and Kimberly."

* * *

The two girls were then lead out of the office by Cindy, Kimberly shutting the door behind them as they exited. Shortly after they stopped in a long hallway which appeared to be the main corridor of the school, on one side was rows of lockers with door placed in between every ten to thirty lockers while on the other side were several windows with wrought iron edges. The roof was arched ornately and the floor appeared to be marble, dirtied by time and the thousands of shoes which had walked over it. Kimberly wasn't surprised by the ornateness, during the brief time she'd lived in Oakhaven she had read up on the High School. She'd found out that the school had been built in 1892 and had been in use since then, thus some of its original ornate designs were still visible despite the upgrades it had received over the years.

"So this is the main hallway." said Cindy in a rather peppy voice which irritated Kimberly as soon as she heard it. Judging by Jane's expression it also irritated her aswell. "Most of your classes will take place in one of the classrooms here, like English, Math and Geography."

"These blue sheets are our schedules, right?" asked Jane nervously as she glanced down at the sheet of paper in her hand.

"Yeah they are Jane. They have your lock combination on them too." confirmed Cindy, the peppiness never leaving her voice. "So we'll go to your lockers next. What locker number do they have?" Kimberly glanced down at her lock in confusion, as did Jane. "Oh I forgot to mention it, the locker you've been given has its number on the back of your lock."

The orange haired girl turned her lock around to find out that the cheer captain was right; there was a number on the back of her lock. 1064.

"It's 1064." answered Kimberly.

"1063." muttered Jane.

"Oh they're next to each other, great!" said Cindy enthusiastically before she led them down the hallway, stopping once they reached lockers 1063 and 1064. "Oh." said Cindy with displeasure in her voice. "They're next to theirs."

"Theirs?" asked Kimberly as she put her lock on her locker, whilst Jane did the same.

"Oh nobody important." said Cindy quickly. "I'll show you the Cafeteria next." As the cheerleader led them down the hallway Luna noticed something different about two lockers after her's, 1065 and 1066. 1065 had musical notes and bats graffitied on it in black marker whilst 1066 had a union jack graffitied on it, each of them near and around the locker's handle. No other locker in the hallway had any graffiti or anything to make it stand out.

Maybe that was what Cindy had meant when she said theirs?

* * *

"And so that's all of the school you need to know." said Cindy as she led them back into the school's main hallway.

"Thanks Cindy." said Kimberly. Sure the cheer leader had been annoying but she had shown them around the school, it was just good manners to thank her.

"Yeah thanks." muttered Jane, known Kimberly noticed had been quiet throughout most of the tour.

"You're welcome." said Cindy enthusiastically before a ringing sound filled the hallway, announcing the end of the first class of the day. Almost immediately students began to exit the classrooms, heading towards their lockers. It was then that Kimberly caught site of the two people who had the lockers next to her's, 1065 and 1066.

A guy who looked about her age had locker 1066. He had long pitch black hair which ran down past the back of his neck and gave him an almost regal look. His skin was quite pale and he had black eyeliner around his eyes, their colour not visible from how far away she was. The guy was wearing a black t-shirt, black baggy trousers, studded black fingerless gloves and black boots.

The other person was a very thin girl, who was smaller than the guy, with long black hair with red highlights which flowed down her back and over her shoulders. Her skin was pure white and contrasted perfectly with the lightly pure black dress she was wearing that hugged her slender form fittingly. She had black and red lipstick on and black eyeliner round her eyes, which helped to bring focus on her bright green eyes.

The girl was laughing at something the guy had said whilst male passers-by starred at her, before they were scared off by a glare from the guy.

"Hey Cindy, who are those two?" asked Kimberly as she pointed towards the two goths who had lockers next to her's and Jane's. An expression of displeasure crossed the cheerleader's face when she saw where the orange haired girl was pointing.

"Oh there just Alastair and Sally, or Thorn as she now calls herself." answered Cindy with some hostility. "They're not important." Despite the cheerleader's dismissal Kimberly noticed that she blushed when Alastair briefly glanced over at them, a neutral look on his face. He then nudged Thorn who looked over at them aswell, she briefly waved at them before the two goths left their lockers and headed down the hallway.

* * *

Kimberly's first class, or at least the first class she would be attending that day, was English. Jane also had English in the same room so they headed to class together early. Once there the teacher, a bald Englishman who appeared to be in his forties named Mr. Milner, assigned them the only two empty seats in the class, which happened to be in the back row of the class room. The two of them sat down in their seats, Jane taking the one on the right side of the classroom whilst Luna took the seat to the left of her.

While the rest of the class arrived she took in her surroundings. It was a fairly normal classroom, blackboard at the front and four desks per row. Covering the walls were a couple posters about nouns verbs and other English related things.

None of the students in the class caught Kimberly's notice; expect Cindy who waved at her, until Thorn and Alastair entered the room together. Neither of the goths took notice of her or Jane as they headed two their seats, Thorn sitting down at the desk next to Kimberly's whilst Alastair sat down at the desk to the left of Thorn's. The two of them then began speaking to each other, during which Kimberly took note of two interesting things.

One Alastair had a rather refined British accent, standing out in stark contrast to his appearance. Two his eyes were different colours, his right eye was bright blue whilst his left eye was a pale green. However before Kimberly could ponder his peculiar appearance further the bell rang and Mr. Milner began the class.

Nothing much happened in the class. Mr. Milner was giving an introduction to a case study they would be doing on Shakespeare's Richard III play, occasionally asking answers which only Alastair knew the answers to. He apparently knew a lot about Shakespeare and Richard III, being the only member of the class to share Mr. Milner's passion for the subject.

Near the end of the class Thorn let out a rather loud yawn, drawing a very quick response from Mr. Milner.

"Am I boring you Mrs McKnight?" asked Mr Milner sarcastically.

"No sir." answered Thorn, scowling after doing so.

"Good." said Mr. Milner as he turned back to writing on the chalkboard. "You should follow Alastair's lead and take more interest in Shakespeare and his works."

Kimberly noticed Alastair turn and smirk at Thorn after Mr. Milner spoke. Thorn merely raised her middle finger back at him, a somewhat playful smile on her face.

* * *

After English class had ended Kimberly exited the classroom and headed to her locker, Jane following close behind her. While the two of them put their books away she noticed that Alastair and Thorn were not at their lockers. The dark skinned girl was pondering her observation when Jane spoke to the left of her.

"Hey Kimberly do you remember where the Cafeteria is?" asked Jane, her voice tiny and quiet compared the background noise of students talking and joking with one another.

"Yeah I do." answered Kimberly.

"Great cause I don't." the two girls then headed off towards the cafeteria, each thankful that they weren't the only new person at the high school.

The two new students had found the cafeteria and gone through the process of getting a tray of food. Now they were standing at the edge of the hall, trying to find somewhere to sit. There were no empty tables and she didn't feel like sitting with people she didn't know. Eventually she noticed Thorn sitting by herself at a table, she'd seemed nice enough during English class…even though she never spoken to the black haired girl.

"C'mon Jane, I found somewhere to sit." said Kimberly as she began to head towards Thorn's table.

"Finally." she heard the blonde mutter as she followed her through the crowded tables.

When they reached Thorn's table the black haired girl looked up at them, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" asked Kimberly quickly, hesitation setting in. Thorn's face then broke into a smile.

"No, of course not." answered Thorn, seemingly made happy by her question. "You two are the new girls right?"

"Yeah that's us. I'm Kimberly." said the orange haired girl.

"Jane." said the pigtailed blonde before she began to eat her food from the tray.

"It's nice to meet you two." said Thorn happily, her piercing green eyes examining them from across the table. It was then that Kimberly noticed Thorn's lack of a tray of food.

"Aren't you eating anything?" asked Kimberly curiously.

"Yeah I am. My boyfriend Alastair is getting it for me, since I was kept behind at the end of class." explained Thorn as she ran her hand through the parts of her hair which ran over her right shoulder.

"So that's why he was glaring at every guy who looked at you when your locker this morning." said Kimberly out loud in realization.

"He was?" asked Thorn, Kimberly merely nodded in reply. "Aww he's sweet like that. Anyway what do you think of the school so far?"

"It's nice." answered Jane quietly before she took a sip of her cup of water.

"It's been good so far. A cheerleader gave us a tour of it earlier." answered Kimberly, noticing Thorn's expression darken at the word cheerleader.

"Which cheerleader?" asked Thorn with slight hostility in her voice.

"Cindy." said Kimberly, regretting her remark when she saw the scowl on Thorn's face.

"I hate that bitch, she's always trying to get…" said Thorn before she noticed Alastair approaching, her expression immediately shifting back to a happy one. Which Kimberly was thankful for, she didn't want to anger the one person other than a cheerleader who was being friendly towards her and Jane.

"Here's your food Thorn." said Alastair as he put a tray of food down in front of Thorn before sitting down next to her.

"Thanks for getting food for me Alastair." said Thorn before she leant over and planted a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek, a small smile briefly gracing his lips as she did so.

"You're welcome." said Alastair, his odd coloured eyes looking down at her. "I wouldn't have to do this so often if you paid attention in English and Math, that's the second detention you've gotten today."

"Don't talk to me about it Alastair." said Thorn in annoyance. "Cindy was being a prick in Math and English was boring as hell. And who are you to talk to me about getting detentions? You got four last week for beating up those guys!" Alastair merely shrugged at the comment aimed at him and looked over at Kimberly, who felt slightly nervous in his gaze after the comment about him beating some guys up.

"So you're the new girls we saw earlier." stated Alastair bluntly before turning his gaze to Jane briefly before turning back to look at Kimberly.

"Yeah they are. She's Kimberly and she's Jane." said Thorn as she motioned to the orange and blonde haired girls as she said their names.

"Good to meet you two." said Alastair neutrally before picking up and biting into a chicken sandwich.

"So what classes do you two have after lunch?" asked Thorn after she bit into an apple she picked up off her tray.

"Music." said Jane quietly, with a hint more confidence in her voice than when they had first sat down at the table.

"Same here." said Kimberly.

"Great that's what I have. Finally I'll have someone to talk to there!" said Thorn with a happy smile on her face. Kimberly couldn't help but smile along with Thorn, the black haired girl's happy mood was contagious.

"And you'll finally be able to stop bugging me into switching into music." mutter Alastair, earning a brief glare from Thorn.

* * *

The rest of lunch was spent getting to know Thorn. Although other than her love of music the only notable thing Kimberly learnt was that her father was the town's pharmacist. Jane talked a little more as the conversation continued, but still not as much as the other two girls. Kimberly put it down to her being nervous around people she'd only recently met. Alastair didn't say much throughout lunch other than the occasional comment, apparently happy to let Thorn do all the talking.

Once lunch was finished the four of them had headed back to their lockers, where Thorn had displayed joy at the fact they had lockers next to one another's. Once they had grabbed their binders out of their lockers Alastair kissed Thorn on the cheek before heading off to his Biology class, then Thorn had lead them to their Music class.

Music class was very uneventful. The teacher, Mrs. Cheal, told them about a project she would be assigning them for most of the class. Partway through the class Thorn had started calling Kimberly Kim, which annoyed her slightly. However she let it slide, she didn't want to lose the one friend other than Jane she had made that day.

After music the three of them had Art class, during which they spent all of it hearing a lecture about Picasso. The teacher was a man named Mr. Wilson who appeared to be in his sixties, a long grey beard flowing down his front as he pointed at the bored with his walking stick. Kimberly had noticed partway through the class that his beard had paint stains in it, which brought amusement to the otherwise boring lecture. She also swore that Thorn had been sleeping at one point in the lecture.

The four of them were now back at their lockers, packing stuff away into their bags whilst they talked about miscellaneous things.

"Do you to want to walk home with us?" asked Thorn once she had finished telling them about how Mr. Wilson's beard always got in student's paint palettes when he was examining students work.

"Sure." answered Kimberly as she finished putting things in her bag.

"Yeah." said Jane, more at ease among them now than she had been when she first met them. Alastair then put his arm wound Thorn's waist, briefly startling her before he pulled her backwards until she was leaning right up against him.

"I can't walk home with you three today Thorn." said Alastair as a blush appeared on the black haired girls face due to the position she was in.

"Why?" asked Thorn, a frown planted on her face.

"Because I'm going to pick my parents up from the airport with Igor." answered her black haired boyfriend bluntly. "They're coming back from their trip around Europe today." Kimberly couldn't help but be puzzled at his words, whose parents would leave their child behind to go on a trip to Europe in March? Who had been watching Alastair? Who was Igor?

"Oh." said Thorn as he released her and put his lock on his locker. "I forgot about that."

"I'll walk back with you three tomorrow though." said Alastair as he leant over a placed a kiss on Thorn's forehead whilst she smiled back up at him.

"Good." said Thorn, a light blush still on her face. Alastair then turned to face Kimberly and Jane, the latter of which had finished packing her bag during all the talking.

"It was nice meeting you two, Kimberly and Jane." said Alastair with a neutral expression on his face before he headed off down the hallway with his bag, leaving a blushing Thorn behind him.

* * *

Shortly after Alastair had departed the three girls had left the school and were now walking down one of Oakhaven's backstreets, themselves being the only humans present.

"Hey Thorn, when'd you put the highlights in your hair?" asked Jane curiously.

"I dyed it last summer, so about eight months ago." answered Thorn as she ran her hand through the parts of her hair which hung down over her left shoulder. "Although I was considering putting highlights in for about a year before that."

"Oh." said Jane, before somewhat timidly saying. "They look nice."

"Thanks Jane." replied Thorn as she smiled back at the blonde haired girl. "I remember my father was a bit shocked when I dyed it, but he soon got used to it." The black haired girl then giggled briefly.

"What?" asked Kimberly, confused as to why Thorn had giggled.

"Alastair stared at me for ages when he first saw my hair like this." said Thorn with another giggle. "I'm pretty sure he drooled at one point."

"How long have you two been dating?" asked Kimberly with both curiosity and a desire to move on from the mental image of Alastair drooling.

"About a year and a half Kim, although we've known each other for way longer than that." said Thorn after a moment's thought. "I've been friends with him since he immigrated here, which means we've been friends for about eleven years."

"That's a long time." muttered Jane quietly. Kimberly silently agreed with her, she was slightly envious of Thorn. She hadn't had many friends, the few she had had didn't last very long though as her father had been moving round the country taking temporary-dentist jobs where he could find them, thankfully though he had recently found a secure job as a dentist in Oakhaven.

"Yeah it is, although I was quite surprised when he asked me out on a date." said Thorn, smiling at the thought.

"You didn't expect him to?" asked Jane in a slight tone of surprise.

"No I didn't Jane, guys were asking me out left and right at the time but I never expected him to." said Thorn as she turned to look at Jane. "We were just hanging out by the creek one day when he asked me out, stuttering all over the place as he did so."

"And you obviously said yes." stated Kimberly.

"Of course I did Kim, he was the only guy I could picture being with at the time. Hell he's still the only guy I can picture being with." replied Thorn as she turned to look at Kimberly. "He's the only guy my age I've met at school who cares about more than how I look anyway." The black haired girl then smirked at her. "Besides it stopped me getting annoyed by guys trying to get me to go on a date with them. Although the occasional jerk still asks me out and promptly gets beat up by Alastair."

"And you're perfectly ok with that?" asked Kimberly.

"Yeah I am, you don't ask someone's girlfriend out on a date. Besides they're all jerks anyway." said Thorn as she briefly examined her nails, a brief scowl coming over her face. "Although I wish he'd ditch his morals for a day and beat the crap out of Cindy."

"I take it you don't get along with her." said Kimberly, bracing herself for a backlash at her which never came.

"Of course I don't, we've never got along. She always used to pick on me when we we're younger." said Thorn with hostility. "And now she always attempts to flirt with Alastair and get him to dump me!"

"Of course he never flirts back…right?" asked Jane somewhat cautiously.

"No he never does, he rejects her all the time." said Thorn, her mood shifting back to a happier one. "So have you two ever had a boyfriend?"

"Nope." said Jane uncaringly.

"Same here." said Kimberly.

"Oh." said Thorn quickly, slight surprise in her voice. "Well I guess you'd prefer to talk about something else then."

"No we don't mind, right Kim?" said Jane, irritating Kimberly slightly by how she too was now shortening her name aswell.

"Yeah I don't mind." said Kimberly quickly. It was true, she didn't mind hearing about Thorn's love life. The black haired girl was just being friendly and telling them about what was presumably a big part of her life. Although she couldn't deny that she was jealous of Thorn, she'd never been asked out by even one guy. Yet the green eyed girl had been asked out by what seemed like most of Oakhaven. Sure Thorn had said they were jerks but at least people asked her out. Plus she was slightly envious of Thorn's looks, what girl wouldn't be? She had the attention of every guy at school, even the ones who had girlfriends. Thorn could date any guy she wanted in that school, even if they did only like her for her looks.

Kimberly pushed her jealous and envious thoughts aside as Thorn spoke again.

"Yeah but Alastair's only so interesting." said Thorn before she smirked at them. "So what music do you two like?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I plan for this fanfic to cover pre-Witch's Ghost (these first six chapters), the Witch's Ghost (chapter six literally ends as the Hex Girls first appear in the Witch's Ghost), Legend of the Vampire and The Vampire Strikes Back. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Here's a little backstory for you all before you read the other five chapters (skip it if you wish). The first six chapter of this fanfic (all uploaded at once, it isn't relvent to the context of the story itself) were not written around the same time. The idea came to me around pre-New Years post-Christmas 2014 when I was laying in bed one morning. Or rather everything up until the end of chapter two came to me, the rest came after. However chapter 1 was (according to my word document) initally created on December 31 2014. Now it must be noted these chapters did not take me that long. I wrote chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 in January of 2015. Then I finished chapter 2 and wrote chapters 3, 4 and the beginning of 5 in the summer of 2015. Then I finished chapter 5 over Christmas. Chapter 6 was started on 16 February 2016 and finished on the 2nd of March 2016.

Why did I not post these chapters in between you ask? Because I to have a sufficent amount done before posting, since I didn't want to post something which I may not have ever finished. Chapters took a while to write since it was an on off side project of mine.

Anyway I'll end this long author's note here. Well done to those of who trudged through the notes! I assure you these are important to understand the fanfic...kinda...or some of them are at least...maybe... Anyway onwards to the next chapter!


	2. Sleepover and the Selous Family

**Author's Note:** So thanks to anyone who made it this far.

Not much to say other than sorry for the length of this one. Sorry because I do realise long chapters can be annoying at times (especially if you stop reading mid way to come back to it later, since then you have to scroll down a ton to get back to where you left off), but I assure you the stuff in this chapter is important...and hopefully interesting/fun/entertaining to read.

Oh yeah I'm having these little transitions at the start of chapter (and mid way in some cases) to show how much time has passed since the day the Hex Girls first met. Less important right now but in later chapters (where time skips happen) it'll make them more obvious/less misable.

And last but not least, something I forgot to say in the first chapter, this is set in the 90s. Before 1999 when the Witch's Ghost came out (and before 2006 when the world went to shit) and thus it makes sense to set it around that time, due to cultural and technological reasons. Thus no one on their smartphones constantly 24/7 here. And the reason why there are VHS tapes and cassettes mentioned. Though the Witch's Ghost chapters occur in 1999...so if you want to (for whatever reason) from that you could work out the dates of other chapters.

* * *

Four days after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly was sitting with Thorn and Jane at the same table in the cafeteria that they had sat at on Monday when it had been her first day, talking about music, vampires, nature and other common interest they had discovered that they had. However there was one person absent at the table who had been there the past four days, Alastair.

The orange haired teen hadn't taken much notice of his absence at first, figuring that he was just late. But now she was wondering if he was even going to turn up at all.

"You thinking about something Kim?" asked Thorn, snapping the dark skinned girl out of her thoughts.

"I was just wondering where Alastair was." answered Kimberly.

"Oh yeah you weren't there." said Thorn in realization. "You missed the whole thing."

"What whole thing?" asked Kimberly in confusion.

"Jane will tell you." said Thorn. When Kimberly turned to look at the green clad blonde seated next to her she heard Thorn mutter something about it being her fault.

"What happened Jane?" asked Kimberly curiously.

"Some sports team jerk was trying to make a move on me and wouldn't take no for an answer." said Jane with far more confidence in her voice than when Kimberly had first met her. The blonde then smirked at her before continuing. "So I punched him where the sun doesn't shine." The orange haired girl was shocked, never had she expected that Jane would punch someone, especially in that area.

"And go on." said Thorn in annoyance as she examined her fingernails.

"And Alastair took the blame for it. He's currently in detention." said Jane somewhat more timidly, a grateful smile on her face. Kimberly wasn't surprised by the fact that Alastair had taken the blame for Jane's punch, from what Thorn had told them he would happily take the blame for her actions at times. She guessed that he was merely extending it to them aswell.

"It was funny though." said Thorn with a giggle. "That jerk's face was priceless when you hit him."

"Yeah he never saw that coming." said Jane with a laugh.

A couple minutes of miscellaneous conversation passed between the three girls before Thorn asked the two new girls a question neither of them had expected.

"Hey do you two want to stay over at my house tonight?" asked Thorn enthusiastically. "If, you know your parents are ok with that."

"Sure. I'll check with my Dad after school, he'll probably be ok with it though." answered Kimberly, excited at the idea of seeing Thorn's home.

"Yeah, my grandparents will be ok with that." answered Jane enthusiastically.

"You live with your grandparents?" stated Thorn in what appeared to be surprise.

"Yeah I do. Have a problem with that?" asked Jane hostilely.

"No, no problems with that." said Thorn quickly, looking somewhat intimidated by Jane as the bell rang to signal the end of lunch.

"Good." said Jane somewhat angrily before she stormed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

Students were filling out of the Geography class as the bell rang, Kimberly being one of the last students to leave it. She seemed to be the only one in the class who cared about geography, which sucked since neither Thorn, Jane or Alastair were in that class, meaning she had no one to talk to during the class.

The dark skinned girl was about to head to her locker to grab her bag, since Geography had been the last class she had that day, when she heard someone calling her name behind her. When Kimberly turned around she noticed that it was Cindy, whom she walked over to.

"What do you want Cindy?" asked Kimberly, wondering why the cheerleader wanted to talk to her.

"I just want to give you some advice." answered the cheerleader, a distinct lack of peppiness in her voice.

"What advice?" asked Kimberly in confusion.

"Don't hang out with Thorn. She's at the bottom of the social ladder Kimberly, hell she isn't even on it." said Cindy with distaste as she spoke about Thorn. "She's not worth your time, you deserve better than some vampire wannabe."

Kimberly was shocked at Cindy's all-out attack on Thorn, sure she knew the two girls didn't get along but she didn't expect the criticism of her friendship with the black haired girl. She certainly didn't agree with the comment about Thorn not being worth her time.

"Why should you care how I hang out with? It's none of your business." replied Kimberly in annoyance.

"I'm just looking out for you Kimberly." said Cindy bluntly. "You, Jane and Alastair deserve better than that freak."

"Who cares if we do? We like her Cindy!" said Kimberly, getting annoyed the cheerleader's attack on Thorn. "And besides from what I hear you're just jealous of her relationship with Alastair!" Cindy glared at her when she mentioned Alastair.

"Alastair was going to be my boyfriend! I was just about to ask him about to that Halloween dance when Thorn seduced and snatched him away from me!" said Cindy hostilely. "He deserves better than that black haired slut!"

Instead of replying Kimberly merely turned around and began to walk away, not one to get involved in conflict. She could deal with Cindy calling Thorn a vampire wannabe, Thorn was a vampire wannabe. She could deal with her calling Thorn a freak; she'd been called a freak herself more times than she could count at the schools she had attended in the past. But what she couldn't deal with was Cindy calling Thorn a slut. And being the person she was she decided to be the mature one and walk away from the conversation, rather than argue with someone who was being unreasonable.

As she rounded the corner of the hallway Kimberly heard Cindy call out to her.

"Take my advice Kimberly! Stay out of Thorn's circle of darkness!"

* * *

"So this is her house?" asked Jane curiously.

"Yeah it is, if Thorn gave us the right address." answered Kimberly as she stared at the house. Before them was a fairly average sized white house which appeared to have been built in the Victorian times, or at least that's what Kimberly assumed judging by the design of the house. Around the front of the property was a white picket fence which gave the house a rather peaceful look when combined with the neatly cut empty front lawn.

After the argument with Cindy she had walked home with Thorn and Jane. She'd decided to not bring up the encounter with the cheerleader, it would do nothing other than rile up Thorn. However try as she might the cheerleader's parting words still echoed in her head. Once she returned home she had got her father's permission to go round Thorn's house for the night, which he had been pretty ok with since he had apparently met Thorn's farther a day or two before. Then she'd headed off to her black haired friend's house, meeting up with Jane along the way.

"Let's head in then." said Jane as she opened the gate and headed quickly up the path to the front door, her orange haired friend following behind her. Once they reached the door Jane rang the doorbell, the door being opened a few seconds later by a smiling Thorn.

"Great you came." said Thorn happily as she moved aside to let them enter her home. As Thorn was closing the door a grey haired man, wearing a white lab-esc coat and beige trousers walked into the hallway.

"Ah you must be Kimberly and Jane, Thorn's told me a lot about you two." said the grey haired man, smiling at them as he did so. "It's good to meet each of you."

"That's my Daddy." said Thorn as she introduced her two friends to her farther.

"Nice to meet you Mr. McKnight." said Kimberly politely, intent of making a good first impression.

"Yeah nice to meet you." said Jane uncharacteristically politely.

"Friendly and good mannered." said Thorn's father friendly before he turned and headed down the hallway. "If you girls need anything I'll be preparing dinner."

"Ok Daddy." said Thorn before turning to Kimberly and Jane, a happy smile on her face. "I'm so glad you two could come!"

"So are we." replied Kimberly, Jane merely nodding in agreement. Their black haired friend then began to head into a room to their right, separated from the hallway by only an open wooden archway.

"C'mon let's go sit down." said Thorn as she motioned for them to follow her. "Want anything to drink?"

* * *

Kimberly was looking around the living room, having lost interest in the conversation Thorn and Dusk were having. Her two friends were talking about their favourite TV shows, something the orange haired girl couldn't relate to. She'd never watched much TV due to how up until very recently she had been moving round the country, due to her father's non-permanent employment, every couple months. Instead of watching TV she'd spent her time studying, intent on doing well in school despite leaving and going to a new one every few months. Thankfully all that moving was over for good now.

The living room was fairly basic. The room had wooden boarding covering the walls and ceiling giving it a log cabin-esc look. The carpet was light grey and well-worn and stood out in stark contrast with the walls. There were two armchairs on the opposite side of the room to them next to a stone fireplace, its mantel piece covered with photos and somewhat odd-looking soapstone ornaments, each of them twisted and disfigured.

She was sitting on a couch near the opening to the hallway with the TV situated diagonally to their left, sitting on top of a small glass door cupboard filmed with video tapes. Seated next to her was Thorn, with Dusk seated on the other side of the black haired girl.

It then struck Kimberly that she was thirsty, the perfect excuse to have a break from Thorn and Jane's conversation.

"I'm going to go get a glass of water." announced Kimberly as she got up from the couch.

"Kay Kim, Kitchen's down the hallway." said Thorn before she resumed her conversation with Jane.

After a minute of searching Kimberly found the kitchen. It was your average kitchen, complete with an average white colour scheme. Mr. McKnight was cutting up some meat on a countertop next to the cooker when she entered the kitchen, looking up as she did so.

"What brings you here Kimberly?" asked Thorn's father curiously.

"Umm I w..was wondering if...I c..could get a glass of water." stuttered out Kimberly, suddenly caught by a feeling of nervousness. Mr. McKnight's expressions softened as she spoke, him smiling at her.

"The glasses are in the third cupboard to your right. Help yourself." said Mr. McKnight friendlily before he went cutting up the meat. Kimberly did just that, finding and filling up a glass with water from the tap. As she drank the water she noticed that Thorn's father appeared to be struggling with whatever he was cooking, checking a recipe book every few seconds hastily.

"Need any help?" asked Kimberly, she'd helped her father with cooking plenty of times.

"No thank you Kimberly." said Mr. McKnight rather quickly. "I'm just not used to cooking so much, usually I just cook enough for me and Sally."

"You sure?" asked Kimberly as she put her now empty glass down on the countertop near the sink.

"I'm sure." said Thorn's father as he turned on the oven. "I'm just still fairly new to cooking, I only started cooking three years ago. June used to do it…" He then trailed off, his gaze focused on a photo hung on the wall next to where she entered the kitchen. It was off a woman with long black hair, pale skin and piercing green eyes wearing a long flowing black dress. She was holding a mixing bowl filled with what appeared to be cake mixture, a happy smile on her face. It was then that a thought struck the orange haired girl.

Thorn had never mentioned her mother.

Her vampire obsessed friend had mentioned her farther plenty of times, yet she'd never even mentioned the word mother, mum or mommy. That combined with her father using the words "used to do" and how sadly he was looking at the picture of the woman brought Kimberly to one conclusion.

The woman in the picture was June, Thorn's dead mother. The woman looked almost identical to Thorn, adeit older, having the same piercing eyes and pitch black hair.

"Oh, my father had trouble cooking too." said Kimberly, trying to break the depressing feeling in the room. "I help him out with it a lot, ever since he divorced Mum when I was six."

"I'm sorry to her that Kimberly." said Mr. McKnight as he turned away from the picture and faced her, face full of sympathy.

"Don't be." said Kimberly, pushing down memorises of her mother. "She was a hag, always wasting money on getting drunk and ignoring the two of us."

"Still it must have been hard growing up without your mother, even if she was a hag as you put it." said Mr. McKnight, sympathy still on his face. "Sally's found it hard enough and June has only been gone three years."

"So she's dead?" asked Kimberly, instantly feeling stupid and rude after asking the question.

"Yes she is…" said Thorn's father as he trailed off, looking over once more at the picture of Thorn's mother. "That's why I've visited Alastair's parents less in recent years."

"Alastair's parents?" asked Kimberly in a mixture of confusion.

"I'm well acquainted with them, Sally's and Alastair's long friendship has brought us together. It's just that his mother, Zofia, looks almost identical to June. I look at Zofia sometimes and instead I see June, alive again for a few seconds." said Mr. McKnight as a smile was brought back to his face. "The two of them regularly got mistaken for twins when they both attended the Christmas town hall ball. They dressed the same, liked the same things, and wore the same make-up. The only difference was that Zofia had bright blue eyes unlike June's beautiful green ones."

"That must have been amusing at times." said Kimberly, enjoying learning about her friend's families. Well enjoying it minus the whole part about finding out that Thorn's mother was dead.

"It was, awkward to when I or Alastair's farther mistook one of them as our wife when it was really the other's wife." said Mr. McKnight with a chuckle. "If you ever go round Alastair's house ask to see a portrait of the two of them standing side by side. It's creepy; the only difference between the two of them is their eyes, which pierce you as you look at the portrait."

"What's the rest of Alastair's family like?" asked Kimberly curiously, wanting to learn more about her new friend's family.

"They're…peculiar to say the least." said Mr. McKnight, obviously thinking over what he was about to say. "Have you ever seen the original Addams Family TV show Kimberly?"

"No." answered the dark skinned girl in confusion.

"Oh…well they are kind of like the characters in that show. They are strange, creepy, eccentric, old fashioned and they prefer keep to themselves. Other than Alastair the only other person to regularly leave their manor is Igor, one of their servants, who only leaves to do the shopping and provide transport for Alastair." explained Thorn's father.

"They have servants!" exclaimed Kimberly in surprise.

"Yes they do, there's two of them. One's a thin Indian boy in his twenties called Mowgli and the other is a big brute of a Russian called Igor." said the grey haired man. "His family is quite well off, owing it to their long ancestry. I'm sure Alastair could tell you more about it, he loves his family's history."

"I'll make sure to ask him sometime." replied Kimberly, her mind trying to imagine what the rest of Alastair's family could be like. "Anyway I'm going to head back to the living room, it was nice talking to you Mr. McKnight."

"It was nice talking to you aswell Kimberly." said Thorn's father before he turned back to cooking whilst the orange haired girl exited the kitchen.

* * *

Later that night...

* * *

Kimberly yawned as she laid on a mattress on the floor of Thorn's room next to Jane, also on her own mattress. The two of them were waiting for their friend to return from brushing her teeth.

"Dark room huh." muttered Jane as she rolled over to look at Kimberly.

"Yeah it is quite dark." replied Kimberly in agreement. The walls of the room were painted a very dark shade of red and every piece of furniture was either red, black or both. There were a couple posters dotted around the walls, all of them depicting a rock or post-punk band. The only pieces of furniture was Thorn's bed, made of wood painted black and complete with red and black coverings, a bedside table with a lamp on it, a black bookcase filled to the brim with books and a dark black dresser to the bed's right. On top of the dresser was a hair brush, make-up relate items and several photos. Most of the photos were of Thorn with her parents or Alastair however two of them stood out from the rest. One was of Thorn's mother, looking almost identical to her black haired friend, and the other was of what appeared to be a far younger Thorn and a young boy with black hair sitting in snow. The younger Thorn was laughing whilst the boy had his arms crossed and a frown firmly planted on his face. The orange haired girl guessed that the boy was Alastair since he had the same miscoloured eyes and Thorn had mentioned that he was her only friend till they came along. Kimberly also guessed that Thorn had thrown a snow ball at Alastair shortly before the picture was taken, based off his face being partially covered by snow. The bookcase was unremarkable itself, however its books weren't. While most of them were vampire novels several of them stood out like a sore thumb, each of them old and having names to do with the study of a mythical creature on the side of them.

"Hey Kim look at these." said Jane, jolting the dark skinned girl from her thoughts. Kimberly then rolled over and looked at where Jane was looking. Tucked away in the corner behind the door was a pile of paper, seemingly haphazardly piled there. Her blonde haired girl then crawled over to them and picked a couple of pieces of paper up, looking through them.

"What are they Jane?" asked Kimberly curiously, the papers seemingly out of place in the room.

"They're song lyrics, mostly incomplete though." said Jane as she looked through them. "Most of them are about nature."

"Thorn wrote all these?" asked Kimberly in a bit of disbelief; there were hundreds of pieces of paper in the pile.

"Yeah, it's her hand writing." replied Jane. Just then the door was opened to their right and Thorn entered her room, face clean of make-up.

"Oh you two found those." said Thorn as she looked down at the two of them. Kimberly then noticed that Thorn's face didn't look that different without her make-up, the only differences were her lack of lipstick and eye shadow. Well that and a couple spots were now visible on her still pale face.

"Yeah we did." said Jane, continuing to look over the lyric sheets.

"I didn't know you wrote songs." stated Kimberly as Thorn sat down across from her after closing her bedroom's door.

"Yeah it's kinda hobby of mine." said Thorn as she rubbed her head in embarrassment. "I just write them whenever inspiration hits me, not that I finish many of them. Doesn't matter though, none of them are that good anyway." she said dismissively.

"I thought they're pretty good." mumbled Jane timidly.

"Yeah Thorn, they are good. Even the incomplete ones." said Kimberly sincerely.

"Thanks girls." said Thorn as she smiled lightly back at them. The conversation then drifted to other subjects, most of which had to do with make-up or clothing. Kimberly didn't care much for either of the subjects, content just to listen. Thorn was talking about how she bought most of her clothes at a city east of Oakhaven when an idea struck the dark skinned orange haired girl.

Their music teacher Mrs. Cheal had assigned them a project whilst they had been at school. It was a group project where the members of the group had to come up with a song, complete with instrumental, and play it to her. The project was due next Friday and Thorn had suggested that the three of them do it together, to which Kimberly and Jane had promptly agreed. She figured that since Thorn had already partially written several songs now was the perfect time to start on the project.

"Hey Thorn do you have any songs which are more than one line lying around?" asked Kimberly quickly, slightly startling her black haired friend.

"Yeah I do Kim. Why?" asked the green eyed girl in confusion.

"I was thinking that we could finish it and use it for our music project." answered Kimberly. "Then we could get part of it out of the way quickly."

"Great idea Kim." said Thorn happily before she got up and knelt by the side of her bed, reaching one of her slender arms underneath it and taking back out a dark blue sketch book. The black haired girl then returned to where she had previously been sitting and skimmed through the sketch book, allowing Kimberly a brief look at its contents.

The few pictures she got a good look at were of either flowers or cartoonish bats, most of which were either red, black or purple in colour. All of them appeared to be drawn quite well and had little notes scribbled above each of them, which its orange haired observer could not read due to the words being upside down to her field of vision.

Thorn then finally stopped on a page which was completely blank, save for a few lines written at the top of the page.

"How's this sound?" asked Thorn before she began to read what she had previously written. "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air. We may look bad but we don't care…"

* * *

The next morning…

* * *

Kimberly was sitting next to Jane on one of the couches in the McKnight household's living room, munching away at the cereal Mr. McKnight had prepared for the two of them. Thorn was upstairs having a shower and doing her make-up…and had been doing so for around half an hour.

"Hey Kim." mumbled Jane once she had finished off her cereal.

"Yeah?" replied Kimberly, having just finished off her cereal aswell.

"What do you think of the song we wrote with Thorn yesterday?" asked Jane as she fiddled with one of her pigtails.

"It's good, we all put an equal amount of effort into it." answered Kimberly as she put her bowl down on a coffee table. "It'll be even better when we have a tune for it though."

"Yeah it will be." agreed Jane, more at ease and happy than she ever was at school. "Too bad we don't have instruments though, otherwise we could finish the tune this weekend." Kimberly nodded her head in agreement. She would prefer to get the project out of the way this weekend, leaving them with more free time next week for other things.

"Ah but you know someone who does." said Mr. McKnight as he entered the living room, having overheard their conversation.

"We do?" asked Jane in confusion as their black haired friend's father sat down in an arm chair on the other side of the room.

"Yes you do, Alastair." answered Mr. McKnight. "His family has several pianos and several other instruments, they like collecting such things."

"You sure they wouldn't mind us coming round unexpectedly?" asked Kimberly, not wanting to make a bad first impression on Alastair's parents.

"Of course they won't. They like having guests round and love showing off their home." answered Mr. McKnight. "They'll happily let the three of you in, especially since your friends of both Alastair and Sally."

"Speaking of Thorn." muttered Jane. "How long does it take her to have a shower?" Thorn's father laughedin response to the blonde's comment, a happy cheerful laugh.

"Sally always spends ages getting up, she puts ages into combing her hair alone." said Mr. McKnight once he finished his laugh. "It's a good job I didn't suggest for you three to go round to Alastair's home sooner."

"Why?" asked both Kimberly and Jane curiously.

"Because if Sally knew she would be up there for hours." answered their green eyed friend's father with another laugh, the two girls joining him in laughter shortly after.

* * *

"That's a great idea." said Thorn once Kimberly had told her the suggestion of her farther…and after she had finally finished getting up. Her black haired friend then frowned briefly before heading off into the main hallway. "That means I'm going to need to wear some boots."

"Why?" asked Kimberly in confusion.

"Duh his home's in a swamp." said Thorn as she began putting on a pair of knee high heeled black boots. "Oh wait we never told you that, did we?"

"No I don't believe it ever came up in any conversation we've had." said Kimberly, surprised at the new fact gained about Alastair.

"Well now you know." said Thorn before smirking at her. "Thus it's a good thing you and Jane wore boots here."

* * *

The three girls were walking down one of Oakhaven's deserted streets in silence, their minds elsewhere. Kimberly didn't know what her black and blonde haired friends were thinking about but she knew that she was taking the sights in, she still hadn't seen much of Oakhaven since moving there about a week or two ago. The orange haired girl then looked over her two companions, taking note of their choice of clothing.

Thorn was wearing a white leather jacket, black knee high heeled boots and black jeans whilst her makeup was the same as it always was, the same black eyeliner and red and black lipstick. Jane was wearing a dark green hoodie, black trousers and black combat boots. The only makeup she had on was her green lipstick. While Kimberly herself was wearing a purple top, black jeans and high heeled black boots. Much like Dusk she had only put her purple lipstick on, not bothering with the eye liner she sometimes wore.

The dark skinned girl was then snapped out of her thoughts by Thorn abruptly stopping in front of them, causing her to almost bump into her green eyed friend. To their right was a paved road leading into the forest which surrounded the town, a small mailbox at the end of it.

Thorn then motioned for the two of them to follow her as she walked down the paved road and into the forest, which they did. Shortly after the road turned a corner and ceased being paved, becoming a rough dirt road. A few minutes later they reached the swamp, a dilapidated fence separating it from the forest. Next to where the road passed through the fence there was a signpost with a grimy sign stating the following:

 _No entry without permission from one of the Selous family. Tresspassers will be prosequted with extreme prejudice._

It became eerily quiet as they entered the swamp, the only sounds being their boots hitting the featureless stone road which began at the fence. Either side of the stone road was a mixture of sludge, water and plant life, all either a dark brown of green in colour. The trees growing in the swampy waters had grown over the road at some points, completely blocking out the sun. It was quite an uninviting place, yet Kimberly couldn't help but be attracted to it in some strange way.

"This place is cool." said Jane, breaking the swamp's silence.

"It is, isn't it." said Thorn, seemingly at home in the swamp. "I used to spend so much time here with Alastair when we were younger, we've explored most of this swamp."

"How big is it?" asked Kimberly curiously.

"About ten acres." answered Thorn. "All of it's owned by Alastair's family, the Selouses."

"They own all of it." said Jane in a bit of disbelief. "Why would they want to own the whole swamp?"

"His parents like it here, they say it makes them feel at home." replied Thorn. "They like living out of the way of others."

"Is there anything else in here other than their home?" asked Kimberly, her curiosity growing. She was surprisingly excited to see Alastair's home and family now.

"Yeah there's an abandoned church east of their home." answered Thorn. "Me and Alastair saw a Will O Wisp there once."

"A Will O Wisp?" said Jane in confusion.

"Yeah, you know those bluish orbs of light which appear in swamps." explained Thorn. "Although Alastair said it was a ball of igniting swamp gas."

"You don't agree with him?" asked Kimberly, picking up on the annoyed tone in Thorn's voice.

"Of course I don't, that orb didn't move anything like an ignited ball of gas." replied Thorn in annoyance. "He's too scientific! He always brushes of things like that with boring scientific explanations." Kimberly took note of how Thorn clearly believed that she had seen a Will O Wisp. The orange haired girl didn't believe in them herself, agreeing with Alastair's explanation of it being swamp gas. However Thorn obviously did believe that she had seen a mythical entity. Though that would explain the old mythological creature books Thorn had in her room. Her newfound black haired friend was obviously superstitious on some level…not that she minded. She'd always wanted to believe in such things, but her scientific and logical orientated mind had never allowed it.

"That sounds pretty cool." said Jane, enthusiastic about Thorn's story.

"I'll have to take you two there some night. Maybe we'll see another Will O Wisp." said Thorn happily.

"Yeah, maybe we will." said Kimberly, smiling at her friend's happiness at such a simple thing.

* * *

A few minutes later, having been slowed down by some swamp water and sludge which had spilled onto the road, the three girls rounded a corner and a large brick wall came into view. The wall was overgrown and had several patches which had been repaired recently, the clean new bricks clashing with the grimy old ones. Kimberly estimated that the wall was three to three and a half metres high, or at least it looked that way from the angle they saw it from as they followed the road alongside the old wall. Placed every few metres onto of the wall were gargoyles, each of them having a twisted smile on their face.

"So this is their wall?" asked Kimberly, her curiosity sparked by the apparent age of the wall and its patchwork collection of bricks.

"Yeah, on the other side is their garden." answered Thorn as she brushed some of her long hair back into place.

"Looks like it had a patch job recently." stated Jane as she kicked a stone which had been lying on the road.

"It has, this place was abandoned before his parents bought it and did it up." explained Thorn. "I remember exploring here with my cousins once before they moved here. It was a dump. The outer wall was crumbling everywhere, the house was rotting, the grounds were overgrown and this road was in pieces."

"Must have cost a lot to repair it." stated Kimberly.

"Yeah well, they kinda have the money to spend." said Thorn quickly. They then continued in silence until they reached a set of wrought iron gates which towered over them, the entrance to the Selous's home. Kimberly could vaguely make out a house in the distance but it was hard to make out due to the spray from a fountain in the middle of the front yard, the fountain in question causing the road leading up to the house to spilt in two briefly. Near the fountain was a brute of a man with big muscly arms and legs brushing some leaves into a pile with a rake which looked like a toothpick when compared to his size.

"Hey Igor! Can we come in!" shouted Thorn through the gates iron bars, startling the man briefly. He looked over at them briefly before putting his rake down and walking over to the gate.

"Of course you can Mrs. McKnight." said Igor in a starkly Russian accent. "You are always welcomed here by the Selous family." He then looked over at Kimberley and Jane, intimidating both of them with his gaze and size. "Who are these two?"

"They're Jane and Kimberly." answered Thorn rather quickly. "They're new friends of me and Alastair." Igor merely nodded in reply.

"Follow me." Igor then said bluntly as he opened the gate before walking off into the yard, each of the three girls following closely behind him. The yard was massive, Kimberly estimated that it took up at least half an acre if not more. Either side of the road leading up to the Selous's home was a neatly mown lawn dotted with trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds and the occasional statue. Most of the statues were of scantily clad people, presumably based on Greek statues, however a couple of them were of mythological beasts and a few appeared to be soldiers of some kind. The fountain in the middle of the yard was quite simple with the exception of the statue of a bearded man holding a trident in the middle of it, water flowing out of his mouth. Kimberly guessed it was Poseidon, it would fit with the rest of the mythological statues in the front yard. Either side of the fountain was a flagpole. The one on the right was flying the Union Flag (or British Flag to you non-Britons) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the left was flying the flag of the Russian Federation.

Once they passed the fountain the orange haired girl got a good view of Alastair's home. It was a large manor which appeared to have been built in the Victorian area, judging by its design. The bricks which made up its walls were a faded orange colour, grimy white bricks being used only for its corners. The house's windows were plentiful and clean, most of them having their curtains draw on the inside. The house's roof was made up of dark brown tiles, each of them dirtied by time and the elements. Kimberly assumed that the manor must have looked beautiful when it had first been restored, now it looked more like a haunted house. Not that she minded, the dark skinned girl loved old houses and couldn't wait to see the inside of it. Hopefully the interior of the manor had equally old fashioned furnishings.

* * *

 _Just thought I'd make a note (more for me than you readers) that this is where I stopped writing this chapter intially, writing this next section in the summer._

* * *

Igor motioned the three of them inside once he had unlocked and opened the big thick dark oak door of the house. As Kimberly entered the house she couldn't help but be amazed. The walls were covered by ornate wood panelling and the ceiling was decorated with a beautiful Tudor-esc design made out of lighter, almost white in colour, wooden panels. The wooden floor was a glistening mahogany colour and had not a speck of mud, grim or dust on it. A desk with small green hard back book and a fairly complicated looking brass clock placed on it stood on the right side on the lobby, a ornately carved and cushioned wooden chair placed next to it. And this was just the entrance! A small four of five metre long rectangular room! If this tiny room was this ornately decorated the dark skinned girl couldn't wait to see the other rooms of the house.

She then joined Thorn and Jane in taking off their boots and putting them by a mahogany hat and umbrella stand to the right of the front door as Igor closed it with a bang, which startled Kimberly considerably.

The hulking Russian then motioned for them to follow him before he walked further down the entrance's length, which Kimberly did alongside Jane once Thorn had taken the lead. Igor then pushed open the ornate thinner oak door at the end of the lobby, holding it for them as they entered what appeared to be a longue.

Kimberly was stunned by the room's appearance.

The room looked bigger than most of her house! The wooden floor was the same as it had been in the entrance, only more polished and shiny if that was possible, with a small carpeted area to the right side where several Victorian looking chairs and couches were placed around a beautifully carved coffee table, a few pieces of Chinese porcelain neatly placed on top of the it.

To their left was a beautiful polished oak piano with an Indian dressed in a suited seated at it, playing a tune which Kimberly recognized as Arabesque by Debussy. She was immediately envious of the Indian, not only did he get to play such a beautiful instrument but he had seemingly mastered a truly amazing piece of music.

In this room wooden panelling only covered the bottom of the walls, going only a metre or so up them. Instead the walls were painted a dull shade of yellow and were covered in portraits and mounted animal heads, the later briefly making Kimberly a bit annoyed. On their side of the room were two ground level ornate stone windows, though each was covered by a dark blue curtain. The portraits depicted a variety of people, most of whom the orange haired girl presumed were Alastair's relatives and ancestors, however she recognized a portrait of Winston Churchill, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth the 2nd amongst the unknown faces. The animal heads were of a very small variety of creatures, mostly big cats and bears though she spotted a couple wolf-esc and fox-esc animal heads amongst them. The practice made Kimberly a bit sickened by she wouldn't deny that an old house wouldn't feel the same without mounted animal heads.

The ceiling was decorated with a painted scene of what the orange haired girl guessed to be the Garden of Eden, complete with a nude Adam, a nude Eve, the tree of knowledge, a snake and God.

In the middle of the room was a dark wooden staircase which lead up to an equally dark wooden balcony. Their banisters carved in the shape of bears with their arms in the air, as if they were holding up the handrail. At either end of the balcony were wooden doors, parallel to two doors on the ground floor below the balcony.

Placed in various parts of the room were statues, wood carvings, tables and desk which all looked to be quite old, a couple seemingly on their last legs. Many of the tables and desks were covered in a wide variety of plants, each looking healthy despite the curtains blocking sunlight coming through the windows.

Amazingly and rather eerily there was not a speck of dust anyway in the room. Everything looking shiny if not nearly new.

Kimberly was about to remark about how amazing the room was when she noticed something which made a freeze. There lying next to the staircase was a lion, it's gaze focused on her. However just as she began to contemplate running Thorn leant over and whispered in her ear "Don't worry about the lion, it's stuffed."

She then breathed out a sheepish sigh of relig just as one of the doors on the far side of the room was opened by a woman whom was carrying a watering can. The woman looked like she was just about to begin watering one of the many plants when she saw them, a kind yet reserved smile appearing on her face.

Kimberly was dumbstruck by the beauty of the woman. She had extraordinarily pale snow white skin, piercing blue eyes and long tar black hair which cascaded all the way down her back, stopping just above her rear. She was wearing a pitch black long sleeved V-neck dress which completely covered her lower body, being so long that it dragged slightly behind her, yet hugged her form. Her equally pale hands stood in contrast to her covered arms and had blood red nail varnish on them, perfectly matching her blood red lips.

"Thorn it is delightful that you've come to see us." said the black haired woman in a very noticeably Russian accent as she put down the watering can and seemingly glided across the floor towards them, her feet not making any sound. "Though who are these two young ladies?" she then asked as she motioned to Jane and Kimberly.

"They're Jane and Kimberly, they moved to Oakhaven last week and started school on Monday." answered Thorn as she motioned to the two of them, seemingly in awe of the woman.

"Ah of course. Alastair mentioned you two." said the black clad woman as she looked over at them, an expression of interest appearing on her face despite how reserved she looked. "I'm Zofia, his mother." Zofia then looked over at Igor and said "You may go now Igor. Thank you for allowing our guests entrance."

"Yes Mrs. Selous." said Igor in a respectful voice before he turned and exited the room via the door they had previously come through, the door closing with a bang behind him.

"So dependable." said Zofia to herself as she watched Igor leave. Her gaze then turned back to them. "So why have you come to visit our lovely home today?" asked Zofia neutrally.

"The three of us are doing a music project where we have to write a song and preform it." answered Thorn, her left hand holding her right arm nervously as she did so. "We've already written the song lyrics but we need to write the music…and umm we were wondering if we could use some of your instruments to help with that."

"Of course you three can use them Thorn. Bar Mowgli's piano over there and a couple other's around the house were never use them ourselves." said Zofia as she looked over at the Indian playing the piano.

"Thanks Mrs. Selous." said Thorn happily.

"Yeah thanks." said Kimberly, Jane merely nodded her head in agreement.

"Mowgli could you begin getting lunch ready? I'm going to show these young ladies where we store the instruments." asked Zofia, her tone suggesting that it was more of a command than a question. Mowgli immediately halted playing the piano, the room becoming silent in an instance.

"Of course Mrs. Selous." said Mowgli as he stood up from the piano and headed over to the door Zofia had previously entered through, exiting after he picked up the watering can she had previously been holding.

"Follow me." said Zofia as she turned back to them briefly before gliding effortlessly across the wooden floor to the door on the other side of the room, Kimberly hurrying after her alongside her black haired and blonde haired friends.

* * *

They'd been barely following Alastair's mother for a minute and Kimberly was already lost on what route they had taken. The house's hallways were seemingly a maze, all with wooden panelling going a metre up them and dull yellow paint covering the rest of the walls. Sure there were tables with ornaments on them, portraits, paintings and mounted heads of creatures around the place but she still could barely tell the hallways they'd passed through apart.

Nevertheless she'd fallen in love with the house. It was beautifully decorated and it felt like care had been taken when making it. Unlike modern buildings which were just characterless glass and metal rectangles or cubes, both on the inside and outside.

She'd also spotted the picture of Thorn's mother, June, alongside Zofia. It was outside what appeared to be a ballroom of some kind and was quite creepy. Both woman were wearing the same black dress, staring with the exactly same calm happy expression out of the painting with their hair, skin completion, lipstick and nail varnish exactly the same. The only difference being their eyes. One set blue the other set green. It was like they were clones.

Then the orange haired girl was snapped out of her thoughts by Zofia opening a door and leading them into a library.

It was filled to the brim with books. There were bookcases stretching from floor to ceiling, stacked full of old looking leather bound books. A single large window was built into the far wall and had its curtains pulled to either side, flooding the room in the only natural light she'd seen thus far in the house. Next to the window was a photo depicting about thirty of neutral looking people posed in a Victorian looking style at night with the moon overhead, all of them wearing dark clothing. After recognizing one of the women in the picture as Zofia she guessed it was Alastair's family, him being the small short haired child on her lap.

"You've noticed the picture of our family Kimberly." noted Zofia calmly once the three of them had entered the library, momentarily startling the purple clad girl.

"I didn't realize Alastair's family was so…big." replied Kimberly note knowing what to say in response.

"Well that is both my husband's side of the family, the British side, and my side of the family, the Sovi…I mean Russian side. So it's naturally going to be big." said Zofia, her neutral expression momentarily breaking when she mentioned her side of the family. "My husband had it painted a year before we moved here."

"Alastair's the kid on your lap right?" asked Jane, surprisingly with interest.

"Yes that is my child." answered Zofia, a brief happy smile crossing her face. "Back when he was far smaller."

"Hey where is Alastair?" asked Thorn as she spun around to face Zofia. "He's usually always in here when I come round."

"My son has been struck down by illness." said Zofia reservedly. "I would appreciate if you wait till after lunch till you see him, as he is currently asleep."

"Oh…ok." said Thorn, suddenly looking a bit awkward in the presence of Alastair's Russian mother. Zofia then pointed over towards a door on the far right side of the library.

"My grandfather's instrument collection is through there. Use whatever you wish." said Zofia neutrally.

"Your grandfather's instrument collection?" asked Jane in a bit of confusion.

"My grandfather left it to me in his will. He used to collect any kind of instruments he could get his hands on, called the collection his iron orchestra. A little joke, since it was behind the Iron Curtain at the time." answered Zofia before she turned to exit the room. "Mowgli will come fetch you once lunch is ready." The beautiful Russian woman then glided through the doorway and out of the room, leaving the three girls alone.

"Sooo…let's get started?" asked Thorn as she glanced between the two of them.

"Yeah let's get this started." said Jane, agitation clear in her voice as she headed over towards the door Zofia had previously pointed to, Thorn and Kimberly soon following closely behind her.

* * *

Kimberly was overwhelmed by the collection of instruments. There were electric guitars, pianos, keyboards, violins, drum kits, African drums, flutes, oboes, accordions and a ton of instruments the orange haired girl didn't know the names of in varying states of condition from brand new looking to decrepit looking. There was even a rattle, tambourine and calliope or two scattered amidst the collection.

"Hey Kim!" called Thorn from across the room, having moved away whilst Kimberly had been looking at the instruments. "I've found a keyboard you could use!"

"Coming!" called Kimberly before she maneuverered her way through the instruments over to where Thorn was standing. Before them was a rather simple black keyboard, complete with a stool and power cable plugged into a nearby socket.

"You mentioned you play piano right?" asked Thorn as she looked at her expectantly.

"Well I haven't played on in ages, but I still remember how to." answered Kimberly, noticing Jane pick up a small African drum out of the corner of her eye.

"So you could play this then?" asked her black haired friend.

"I guess." answered the darker skinned girl. "How different from a piano could it be?"

"Great!" said Thorn happily as she moved out of the way to allow Kimberly to sit down on the stool. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper, unfolding it to reveal the song they'd wrote the night before. Earth Wind Fire and Air was what they'd called it. The black haired girl then turned around to see Jane walking over with the African drum she'd picked up. "You can play the drums Jane?"

"Who can't play the drum?" asked Jane as she sat down on the floor rather unceremoniously. "All you do is hit it." The three of them then laughed at Jane's comment for a good few seconds before Thorn spoke once more.

"So you girls ready to start?"

* * *

About two hours had passed by the time they'd finished the song. It had been hard coming up for a tune for the song but once they all put their minds to it the tune had come easily. Kimberly played a rather light tune throughout the song bar the chorus where the tune became ever so slightly rocky. Jane on the other hand just kept up a thump, thump, thump tune on the drum throughout the song, speeding up in the chorus before slowing down again. Thorn merely sung the song's lyrics with them acting as backup singers at select parts.

Interestingly Kimberly noticed that Thorn kept looking longingly at several of the electric guitars scattered around the room whilst she'd been singing.

"Ok let's do it one last…oh hey Mowgli." said Thorn as the door on the other side of the library was opened by the Indian servant, interrupting the green eyed girl and snapping Kimberly from her thoughts.

"Mrs. Selous told me to bring to your attention that lunch is ready." said Mowgli neutrally, his expression one of impassiveness.

"We'll be there in a minute then." said Thorn as she began to fold away their song sheet, now complete with musical notes. The Indian servant merely nodded in response before exiting the room.

"That was a lot quicker than I thought it would be." said Jane as she put down the African drum and stood up from her crossed leg position on the floor.

"Well times fly's when you're having fun." said Thorn happily.

"It sure does." replied Kimberly. She'd not had so much fun in a long time.

* * *

Once they'd finished putting away the instruments they had been using the three of them exited the room holding the instrument collection, or the iron orchestra as Zofia had called it, and headed out into the house's many hallways. Thorn assuring them multiple times that she knew where they were going.

After a couple minutes of walking they heard the sound of a light bell being rung a couple times, it's sound reverberating around the hallways.

"What's that bell being rung for Thorn?" asked Jane, curiosity in her voice.

"Oh Alastair's mother rings it to summon their cats when it's time for them to be fed." answered Thorn as she examined her nails.

"They have cats." said Kimberly in confusion, having never seen a single living animal during their time in Alastair's home.

"They have five. Victoria, Elizabeth, Churchill, Wellington, Nelson and Stalin." answered Thorn.

Kimberly was just about to comment on the choice of names when five cats, one black and white, two tabby, one orange and one grey rushed passed them in the direction of the ringing bell.

"Where's the sixth one?" questioned Kimberly after counting the cats.

"Oh the sixth one's Stalin. He's this fuzzy huge black cat who's slow as hell." answered her black haired friend. "It's his mother's favourite, being the only one she named."

The orange haired girl couldn't help but ponder Zofia's choice of a name. Stalin was a ruthless dictator, not the sort of person you named your cat after. The other choices made sense, they were all kind, great, famous British heroes and leaders whose pictures she'd seen around the house but Stalin stuck out like a sore thumb. It was like name of a villain amidst the names of heroes and heroines. No one normal would name their cat after him.

Then again Alastair's family wasn't exactly normal or, as Kimberly was coming to notice, in the current decade. Not that there was any problem with not being normal…especially when you had such good taste in furnishings.

* * *

The dining room wasn't quite as…grand as Kimberly had been expecting. Its walls were covered by wood panelling and its ceiling was painted a simple white. Placed against the walls were large mahogany cabinets filled to the brim with expensive looking cutlery, plates, bowls and glasses. A window at the far end of the rectangular room let light in, reflecting off the cabinet's contents, though there were several unlit ornate brass candle holders throughout the room.

In the middle of the room was a rather simple oak table, its legs carved in the shape of bears to give the illusion they were holding up the table much like the staircase they'd seen earlier. Covering the table were plates filled with all kinds of foods, ranging from cucumbers and cakes to Pringles and pepperonis. The table had enough chairs to seat nine people, only two of which were occupied. The seat at the head of the table was occupied by a middle aged man in a rather out of date looking suit with short neatly trimmed brown hair. He had rather light skin, a fairly bushy moustache and blue eyes. Next to his left was Zofia, who smiled at them once they entered the room.

"Here they are now darling." said Zofia neutrally.

"Ah it's good to see so new faces in Oakhaven. Alastair has told me all about you." said the man cheerfully as the three of them sat down on the right hand side of the table. "I'm his farther, Albert."

"It's a pleasure to meet to meet you." replied Kimberly, a bit surprised at how expressive Alastair's father was when his mother was so reserved looking.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." added Jane quite timidly.

"The pleasure is all mine." said Albert, obviously not noticing Jane's timidness, before he bit into a sausage roll.

"Help yourselves to whatever you wish." said Zofia as she brushed a piece of her pitch black hair back which had fallen out of place. It was then that Kimberly noticed Thorn had already piled her plates with several vegetables, Pringles and sausage rolls. She then followed suited alongside Jane.

"Some things may taste a bit different." said Albert in between eating some Pringles. "I import whatever I can from the UK. These Pringles for one are far more salty than your American ones, and of a slightly different colour. And they of course don't sell Mr Kipling cakes here, best cakes in the world they are! Especially the Bakewell Slices and French Fancies!"

Kimberly merely nodded her head in acknowledgement, biting into a Pringle somewhat cautiously and seeing that Alastair's farther was right, it was salty, though the crisp made up for it by tasting far better.

"Enough about food though. What do you think of my home?" asked Albert enthusiastically.

"It's nice." answered Jane somewhat timidly.

"Yeah it's really well decorated." answered Kimberly truthfully.

"Ah people of good taste! I told you Zofia that Alastair and Thorn have good taste in friends!" said Albert happily as he looked over at his wife.

"Yes you did say that dear." replied Zofia, her reserved expression and tone of voice still remaining.

"When I found this place it was a ruin. Plaster and bricks everywhere! But when I saw this place I knew it was the perfect place for my family!" said Albert eccentrically. "Just took a bit of time and money and it was back to its former glory. Or at least my excellent interpretation of it!"

"How much did it cost?" asked Jane curiously.

"Oh only five million dollars or so. Not much really." said Albert after a moment's thought. Kimberly was rather quickly getting the impression that Alastair's farther was the stereotypical eccentric old fashioned rich person, throwing money around like it was nothing. "My investments in Nivendo or whatever that Japanese company was more than paid for it."

"Darling." said Zofia neutrally after she finished off the slices of salmon which had been on her plate.

"Yes Zofia?" asked Albert as he turned to face his wife. It was then that Kimberly noticed something odd about Alastair's father's right eye. The eye was slightly cloudy, almost as if it was covered by a layer of fog.

"Aren't you forgetting something you needed to tell Thorn." stated Zofia.

"I don't think so…oh wait of course! The committee meeting!" exclaimed Albert, his attention swiftly moving from his beautiful wife to Thorn. "Could you tell your farther Thorn that committee meetings have been moved from Wednesday to Tuesday?"

"Of course I could…but why've they been moved?" asked Thorn in confusion.

"Our dear Mayor Corey changed them so we could accommodate the new business owner in town." answered Albert as he reached for a yellow French Fancy.

"Who?" asked Thorn, looking more confused than she had previously been.

"Why Kimberly's farther of course! The new dentist." answered Albert, looking over at Kimberly with a smile. "Whom I'll be meeting this week when I go in to get something done about this bloody toothache I've gotten."

"I did tell you dear that too many of those cakes would cause one." said Zofia, a slightly disapproving expression on her face as her husband finished off his French Fancy and reached for yet another, this time a pink one.

"Yes, yes you did." said Albert rather dismissively. "But there's no point letting mild pain get in the way of pleasure Zofia." The pale woman merely sighed as she watched her husband finish the new French Fancy off in seconds, Kimberly getting a clear impression of who was the head of the marriage.

"What's the council do?" asked Kimberly, curious as to what her farther had signed up for.

"Organize local events like the Autumn Fest, decide what the town's money should be spent on, allow the Mayor to hear what the important people of the town have to say. Things like that." answered Albert, his eccentricity dying down. Kimberly couldn't help but feel a bit happy at Albert referring to her farther as important, it made the orange haired girl happy knowing her farther was finally getting recognized for all the effort he put into his practice.

* * *

A few minutes later…

* * *

"We'll that was a good lunch, was it not?" asked Albert happily as he stood up from his chair.

"Yeah it was." answered Jane, more at ease around Albert now. Kimberly merely nodded in agreement alongside Thorn. She watched as Alastair's farther began to walk towards the dining room entrance when Zofia called out to him.

"Darling aren't you forgetting something." called Zofia, her voice still reserved.

"I don't believe I am." replied Albert, swiftly turning on his heel to face his wife.

"Our son perhaps." stated Zofia neutrally as she got up from her chair and walked over to her husband.

"Our son, our son…of course our son!" said Albert, realization dawning on his face. "Alastair needs lunch aswell! I completely forgot!"

"But I didn't." said Alastair's black haired mother as she took her husband's hand in hers. "I got Mowgli to bring him some soup."

"Of course you did. You Russians always think of everything." said Albert happily, causing Zofia's cheeks to turn ever so slightly red.

"Thorn." said Zofia as she turned her face ever so slightly to hide her light blush from their view. "Alastair should be awake now if you three want to go up and see him."

"We will. Right girls?" said Thorn as she turned to look over at them.

"Yeah we will." replied Kimberly, Jane merely smiled ever so slightly in response.

"Well now that is sorted out I have a new business venture I want to show you Zofia. You'll love it." said Albert, his eccentric enthusiasm returning. "It involves both trains and elephants, two of my favourite things."

"Very well dear. I'm sure it'll be very...you." replied Zofia, her voice still surprisingly neutral, as Albert led her out of the room by her pale hand. Kimberly was still in awe of Alastair's mother's beauty. She looked like a shadow gliding alongside his farther as they left the dining room.

"So let's get going girls." said Thorn, having got up from her chair whilst Kimberly had been watching Alastair's parents. "We have a sick Alastair to see."

* * *

After climbing up a staircase and going through the maze of hallways that was Alastair's family home the three girls reached the door to their odd coloured eyed friend's room. Unlike the other doors in this hallway it was made of a dark mahogany and had a rather complicated swirl design carved into the wood around the edges of the door. Then just as Thorn reached to open the door Jane spoke.

"He's going to be surprised to see us." stated Jane, somewhat timidly.

"And? Surprises are fun." replied Thorn, opening the door as she spoke. The three of them then stepped into the room, Kimberly taking it in as she did so.

The room's floor was covered by a dark grey carpet and its walls were all covered in wooden panelling with a very minimalistic design on each panel. There were a couple posters on the walls though unlike in Thorn's room none depicted bands; each depicted a prehistoric creature of some kind, Mammoth, Triceratops, T-rex and Diplodocus all being accounted for. There were also a couple pictures on the walls, depicting either Alastair and his family or several people unknown to the orange haired girl in black and white. There was a ornately carved wardrobe in the corner and next to it was a simple desk with a rather comfy looking wooden chair with a Victorian-esc design. On top of the desk was a pile of what appeared to be sketches of building plans, a bunch of pencils and pens, a rather detailed model of Sputnik (look it up if you do not know what the little guy was), an old fabric covered lamp and a couple pictures of Alastair and Thorn together across various ages. On the wall directly above the desk was a portrait of Winston Churchill, his gaze looking at the three of them from across the room.

Bar a large ornate bookcase on the left side of the room filled to the brim with books and a fabric overhead light that was all that was in the room, other than Alastair's bed of course. His bed was quite modern looking, bar its Victorian decoration influences on how the wood was carved. In it was Alastair, his head resting softly on a dark blue pillow whilst he rested underneath an equally dark blue sheet.

"Hey Alastair." greeted Thorn as she headed over to her boyfriend's, and best friend's, bed side whilst Kimberly stood at the end of the bed with Jane.

"Tho..Thorn." murmmed Alastair who was clearly tired and confused. "Why are you here?"

"We had a music project we wanted to get done, so we came to use some of your family's instruments." explained Thorn, putting her hand on Alastair's forehead as she did so. "But never mind that. You're so warm!" continued the green eyed girl, surprise and concern in her voice.

"Of course I am. That's called being ill." said Alastair sarcastically as he sat up slightly.

"I know that!" replied Thorn in annoyance, before softening down. "But your skin is never warm. You always feel so cold."

"A side effect of being ill. I assure you." replied Alastair. Kimberly then mentally made a note to ask about Alastair's skin being cold all the time sometime in the future. But for now she had another question to ask him first.

"You never mentioned your family was so…so rich." stated Kimberly.

"You never asked." replied Alastair with a small smirk. "And we're not rich anyway, just well off."

"How's your family so well off then?" asked Jane curiously.

"A simple matter of hard work and knowing the right people for a couple generations." answered Alastair matter of factily. "The British side of my family were high ranking officers in the British Army as far back as we've researched right up until World War Two finished. You see my grandfather on the British side was quite the high ranking general during World War Two and a friend of Churchill, thus when the war finally ended he was in a good position to settle down and invest some of my family's money into a TV company."

"And that investment was obviously successful." replied Kimberly.

"Of course it was. Soon my grandfather was managing a variety of businesses, selling everything from soap to sugar across the British Commonwealth." continued Alastair, clearly enjoying reciting his family history. "My dad in turned put effort in whilst at school and became a diplomat, meeting my mother in East Germany where she worked at the USSR's embassy there. The two of them married etc, etc and later my dad resigned from his diplomatic post shortly after my Grandfather died to take of what was now the family businesses which is when they moved to Britain together. Then the USSR collapsed, my family moved here after my Dad repaired and rebuilt this house, I met Thorn, etc, etc until here we are."

"It was that simple?" asked Jane.

"More or less. I left out the more boring parts. The point is two things get you far in life." answered Alastair. "Hard work and knowing the right people."

"I'll remember that." mumbled Jane quietly.

"Anyway enough about my family." said Alastair, his voice changing to one of interest. "How did the music project go?"

"Great. Right girls?" said Thorn as she turned to look at the two of them.

"Yeah we rocked!" replied Jane, her timidness from before gone.

"It went well." acknowledge Kimberly, a smile on her face at seeing Jane seem happier than she usually was.

"That's good then." replied Alastair, resting his head back on his pillow. "But as much as I enjoy your company I think it would be better if I was left to rest. I was up last night for quite a while being sick and I have missed out on a lot of sleep."

"Fine." said Thorn, obviously disappointed. Her expression and tone of voice then changed to an affectionate on. "Have a good sleep then." she said before their black haired friend leant over and kissed Alastair on the forehead.

"I will." said Alastair, a smile curling its way onto his slips. "Have fun getting plenty of attention at school tomorrow."

Thorn's face then turned a surprising bright shade of red as she headed towards the door, leaving Kimberly and Jane little time to bid Alastair goodbye before hurrying after the fluster girl.

"What's he mean you'll be getting plenty of attention at school tomorrow?" asked Jane in confusion as they walked down the hallway either side of Thorn.

"You'll…You'll see." answered Thorn, still slightly flustered.

* * *

Kimberly did certainly see.

For the past four days Thorn had been getting plenty of attention from guys round the clock at school. Guys were offering to carry her books, help her with classwork or homework and just in general be around her. Not that her black haired friend minded, and nor did Kimberly. Quite a few of the guys had made what the orange haired girl perceived to be flirtatious comments towards her and Jane.

Of course with them receiving all that attention Cindy and her friends were being more hostile than usually towards them, not that Kimberly really cared. Especially since the day was the day they'd get to record and preform Earth, Wind, Fire and Air for their music project.

Well that and the attention Thorn was getting had all but stopped since Alastair was back in school today, but Kimberly and Jane were still getting some every now and then.

There three of them were walking down one of the school's hallways towards their music class right now, Thorn in the middle with Kimberly and Jane either side of her, when all of a sudden the orange haired girl felt somebody shove her, Which in turn caused her to bump into Thorn and Thorn to bump into Jane, resulting in them falling to the ground. The culprits soon became apparent when Kimberly looked up.

Before them were Cindy and four of her cheerleader friends, the five of them pointing and laughing at them.

"Fuck you." muttered Thorn as the three of them began to pick up their binders and pencil cases.

"That's not very polite Thorn." said Cindy mockingly. "You should watch where you're walking."

"That's hard to do when your ego is in the way." shoot back Jane in agitation. Cindy merely continued laughing with her friends as they walked down the hallway…or at least they were laughing until a surprising and peculiar event happened.

Cindy and her four cohorts were walking past a stairwell when they were all knocked to the ground by a bin which had rolled down the stairwell, leaving the five of them in a pile of limbs, binders and garbage.

Thorn then began to laugh at the site, as did Jane and Kimberly. Soon the other students in the hallway began laughing too once they noticed what the three of them the laughing at. The five garbage covered cheerleaders' faces a bright shade of red in embarrassment at the whole situation.

Kimberly noticed out of the corner of her key as they were laughing that Alastair came down the stairs and merged with the other students in the hallway, blatantly trying to not be noticed.

"Who pushed that trash can!" shouted Principal Guredo from the other end of the hallway as Cindy and her friends stood up, attempting brushing garbage of themselves and their binders in disgust.

There was silence.

Principal Guredo merely glared at them all before sighing and motioning for the five cheerleaders to follow him.

"Let's get you five cleaned up before you catch some disease." muttered the Principal as he led the garbage covered cheerleaders away, keeping a noticeable distance from them with his hand over his nose.

* * *

"To love the Earth is our one desire!" finished Thorn as Jane hit her African drum and brought Earth Wind Fire and Air to an end. Kimberly was just reaching to press the stop button on the cassette sound recorder they had in the room when Mrs. Cheal bursted in through the sound proof room's door.

"That was amazing girls!" declared Mrs. Cheal, before notable calming herself a bit. "It was like you were professionals."

"Thanks." replied Thorn, a rather pleased smile on her face.

"Your singing was beautiful Sally. As was your keyboard playing Kimberly and your drum playing Jane." continued Mrs. Cheal before frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?" asked Kimberly with concern.

"It just disappoints me that you only had a worn down keyboard and an African drum to use. It was have raised the quality of your music even more." answered Mrs. Cheal. "Too bad the school's budget won't cover that, even after the Selous's recent donation."

Kimberly sighed slightly in relief as she remembered that Thorn had mentioned Alastair's family regularly gave large monetary donations to Oakhaven High School and that thankfully Mrs. Cheal hadn't been frowning about their efforts.

"So we did good." stated Jane, still seated on the floor with the drum.

"You didn't just do good. You did amazing! A+'s for all of you!" replied Mrs. Cheal ecstatically, before taking a moment to calm down. "Anyway I must go get the next group. Great work girls."

"That's the happiest I've ever seen her." said Thorn once Mrs. Cheal had exited the soundproof room via the exit door.

"Do you really think we were as good as she said?" asked Jane as she stood up from her crossed legged position on the floor.

"Of course we were Jane. Mrs. Cheal rarely gives out even a little bit of praise, let alone that much praise." answered Thorn happily. "We're a great team!"

"You really think so?" asked Kimberly, thinking that Thorn could have easily got that much praised without them.

"Of course we are Kim. I was great at singing, you were great on the keyboard and Jane was great on the drum. All of us together sounded great!" answered Thorn enthusiastically. The green eyed girl then put her arms round both Jane's and Kimberly's shoulders, pulling the two of them close to her. "I'm just so glad I met you two!"

"As am I." replied Kimberly.

"Yeah me too." added Jane.

"I think for the first time ever I can't wait till the next music project." continued Thorn. "Just think of what songs the three of us will come up with next!"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ And that's where you all say "Awwww." In the that's cute/sweet fashion. And yeah you should all try a Mr Kipling cake if you ever get the chance, they are the greatest cakes ever! Sadly, despite them being well loved through out the British Isles the company doesn't sell them abroad...meaning I bring a ton back with me to Canada when I come back from visiting my home country.

So hopefully Alastair isn't too boring. He's hopefully as an OC should be, not taking over the story and being there to move it along. Abet he's a main character in this case who helps move things along, though a supporting main character if that makes sense. If you don't like him, no clue why you wouldn't, don't worry as he leaves the story around chapter 6 (though he'll come up in conversation and physically come back way later in the story).

Anyway this chapter has several references, which I shall explains since some are either obscure or you just plain wouldn't get them:

1\. The name Selous is a reference to Frederick Selous. He was a great British officer, explorer, hunter, conservationalist, friend to several great men and an all round cool guy. He's the very imagine of the refined British gentleman. Thus it was the perfect last name of Alastair's family...though wherever or not they're related by blood to Frederick Selous I'll leave up to you.

2\. Nivendo is an obviously nod to Nintendo. A not even thinly veiled nod at that.

3\. The lines "Aren't you forgetting something dear?" and "Our son prehaps." are a direct reference to the lines said to Colonal Hathi and his wife in Disney's Jungle Book movie, my all time favorite movie. I swear I watched that everytime I visited my Grandma's and Grandad's house as a child, I still watch it every year when I go back from Canada to Britain for a visit.

4\. Finally Mr. Guredo is a reference to the name of the head teacher of the secondary school I attended in Britain, Ash Manor. Or at least he was the head as he left recently to go to another school, which is good for him. Ash Manor is, pardon my language here, a shithole. No other way around it. Yet despite that, despite that reputation and the kids who inhabitated the school (there were few kids who cared about learning, me and my chum Luke were two of them) he tried to make a difference there. And he did so a while. He improved grade results immesenly, got kids practising proper manners, got kids treating girls with respect and fought against kids (around the ages of 12-16, what we had in the school) smoking. As in he would go out of the school at the end of the day, walk down the road to the big bush where several smoked (and these are kids who would likely knife you) and give them a damn good telling off. Sadly several good teachers left, or as I like to joke escaped, Ash Manor and the school went down hill from there despite his excellent efforts.

Thankfully the good chap is now teaching at a school where people give a damn about learning. And from an interview I saw with him in the news he's enjoying himself there, and hopefully he'll continue to enjoy himself. The man deserves it after his valiant attempt at helping/teaching people who most of society gives up on.

And that's the third name I've given Alastair's family. First they were the Duzunkills (a name I made up) but since they're were primarily British that name made little sense. Then the Montyfists (no idea where I got that name) and finally the Selouses.

Anyway to chapter 3 we go!


	3. Jack's and Shopping

Two weeks after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly yawned as she sat up in her bed and glanced around her room with her tired eyes. It was the same as it had always been since she'd moved in two weeks before. The room was four metres long and five metres wide and had dark purple walls; it had taken the orange haired girl quite a few weeks to get her father to let her have purple walls in her room. In the middle was her bed, it was a double bed with a simple wooden frame and purple sheets, pillows and duvet with a clock hanging on the wall opposite it. The carpet was also dark purple, again something she had to convince her father to let her have. A simple wooden dresser sat to her bed's right, a simple square mirror placed above it on the wall. A dark wooden bookcase was to the right of her bed, just below her window and filled to the brim with horror novels. The door was located on the left hand side of the room, as far from her bed as was possible. It was quite a dull room.

She really needed to add some decoration like posters, pictures or something similar.

Then the orange haired girl remembered hearing the phone ring earlier in the morning, odd considering no one ever rang them. She'd ask her father about it later.

The clock read 7:30, a good time to get up. Kimberly hated lying in when it was a school weekend, that was just wasting precious free time. She yawned as she got up, still slightly tired from staying up late watching some old black and white vampire movie. The orange haired girl had always had a soft spot for old horror movies, with their amusing special effects and bad acting.

Once Kimberly stood up from her bed she headed over to her door and opened it, closing it quietly behind her. She then headed across the landing and over to the staircase. As she headed down it Kimberly heard what sounded like her father cooking, odd since he usually lied in on the weekends but she guessed he had stayed down there after he went down to answer the phone call. Then once the orange haired girl reached the ground floor she headed down the hallway and past the living room into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen was her father, cooking some eggs over on the cooker, whom glanced over and smiled at her when she came in. Her father looked as he always did. He was wearing a beige t-shirt with grey trousers and had light brown hair which was beginning to grey. His eyes were a rather dark shade of brown and his skin was at the middle part of the Caucasian spectrum, her mother had been the one she'd got her skin tone from.

"Good morning Kimberly." said her father before he turned back to the eggs.

"Morning Dad." replied Kimberly as she picked up a glass from the counter near the sink. "What got you up so early?"

"A phone call." replied her father, confirming her prior suspiciousness. "I'll tell you about it once these eggs are ready."

Then Kimberly went and sat down in the living room, flipping through a magazine Thorn had given her. It was a goth/punk themed fashion magazine called Gothique, not that the orange haired girl had ever known such a thing existed till her black haired friend had given it to her.

* * *

Four Minutes Later...

* * *

Kimberly was looking over a selection of dark purple dresses in the magazine, most of which she liked the look of, when her father called her to the kitchen. Once the orange haired girl had sat down at the table her father turned around from his position by the counter to the side of the cooker and put two plates of scrambled eggs down on the table, one plate in front of her and another in his usual seat.

"So what was the phone call about?" asked Kimberly as her father sat down at a chair across from her.

"Well it was quite the surprising thing." began her father. "You know how Alastair's father was having me checkout his toothache yesterday?"

"Yeah both he and you mentioned it." answered Kimberly. "Did you sort it out?"

"Of course I did." replied her father. "But at one point we got onto a discussion about finances and I mentioned the only bad thing we have at the moment is our mortgage. He quite casually said he'd pay it off as thanks if I wanted him to, so I said yes. I thought he was joking."

"But he wasn't?" asked Kimberly knowingly, having heard about similar acts of generosity by Alastair's father from Thorn.

"No he wasn't! That phone call this morning was him, ringing to tell me he'd paid it off and to thank me for getting rid of his toothache again!" answered her father in enthusiastic happiness. "That's a huge load off our finances! We no longer have any red! It's like a gift from God!"

"Yeah I guess it is." said Kimberly, happy to see her father not worry about money for once and silently thanking Alastair's father as she did so.

* * *

Later in the day, once she'd finished breakfast, had a shower and got dressed, Kimberly had decided to take a walk around Oakhaven in an attempt to see more of the small town. The only parts the orange haired girl had seen thus far was the route she walked along to and from school, the route to Thorn's house and the route to Alastair's house.

Besides it was a nice day for a walk. There was a light breeze in the air and the sun was shinying just enough to keep the town at an average temperature, neither warm nor cold.

Kimberly was quite impressed with Oakhaven's streets. They were neat and surprisingly free of garbage. Sure Oakhaven's population wasn't the biggest, many of the students at the high school were from other surrounding villages, but she still expected there to some trash around. She guessed they just put the effort in to keep their town clean, especially judging by the well-trimmed trees and clean lampposts that lined man of the streets.

The orange haired girl had just passed Jane's house, having briefing contemplated the idea of knocking on the door and saying hi but opting to keep walking as she didn't want to come about unannounced, when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Kimberly! Kimberly!" called someone whose voice she recognized as Alastair's from behind her, whom sure enough it was when she turned around and looked back down the pavement. She then patiently waited for him to close the distance between the two of them before he spoke again. "I hope I didn't startle you. I spotted you just as I was leaving Jane's and I'd thought I would come say hi."

"Well hi then." replied Kimberly, happy to see a friend. "Why were you at Jane's?"

"She asked me yesterday if I could come over today and help her with some Math homework, so I did." answered Alastair neutrally, his miscoloured eyes glinting in the sunlight.

"Oh." replied Kimberly. "I'm taking a walk around Oakhaven; Just to see more of it."

"So you should, this is a very beautiful town." said Alastair neutrally, Kimberly noting that he spoke similar to his mother. "Speaking of beautiful, Thorn requested I ask of you if I saw you."

"What?" asked Kimberly slightly curious as to what her green eyed friend wanted her boyfriend to ask her.

"Would you be willing and able to hang out with us tonight? At this spot just out of town the two of us have gone to on Saturday nights for ages." said Alastair. "Just to talk and stuff as she put it. Jane's already said she'd come."

"We'll I wouldn't want to…you know intrude on something you two do together." replied Kimberly, though on the inside she was jumping at another chance to hang out with her new friends she didn't want to ruin something Thorn and Alastair had done together for a while…especially when the two of them were dating.

"It's nothing romantic." said Alastair rather bluntly in reply. "We've done it for years. All we do there is simply lie around and talk."

"Ok I'll come then, my Dad will probably be ok with it." said Kimberly.

"Good, I'll tell her later." said Alastair, obviously pleased with her response. "So what have you seen of Oakhaven thus far?"

"Not much, just the route to school and all our homes." answered Kimberly.

"You haven't seen the town hall, museum, Jefferson Park and Jack's!" said Alastair with a slightly surprised expression, quite different from his usual neutral one.

"No I haven't seen any of them yet." replied Kimberly sheepishly, feeling somewhat embarrassed for some reason. "And what's Jack's?"

"Jack's is the name of Jack's restaurant. They have the best food in all of New England." answered Alastair, his tone neutral once more. "Well bar my mother's cooking."

"Oh." replied Kimberly as she looked down slightly, feeling more embarrassed now for her lack of knowledge regarding the town she now lived in. "Me and Dad never go to restaurants much."

Then rather suddenly Alastair moved to her side and put his arm round her waist, causing her to blush slightly at the sudden contact, and began to led her back down the street.

"Then I'll take you there, my treat." said Alastair as an explanation for his actions. "Every inhabitant of Oakhaven should eat there at least once. I'll pay."

"O..ok then." stuttered out Kimberly, still slightly flustered about Alastair's arm being round her waist and thankfully that her blue and green eyed friend wasn't looking in her direction.

* * *

After several minutes of walking they reached Jack's restaurant, a rectangular building located on the northern edge of Oakhaven with a carpark which appeared to have seen little use in recent times. Alastair held open for the door for her as she entered the restaurant, causing her to smile back at him in thanks.

The restaurant walls were painted a light beige colour with wooden supports either side of the windows, each of the windows being placed to the left of one of the tables. The ceiling was triangular and was dotted with wooden beams. Fairly high above the windows were shelves with a rather varied and odd collection of things placed on top of them, one of which Kimberly swore was a snake in a jar filled with yellowed liquid (pause Witch's Ghost at a certain point in Jack's restaurant and you will see on a shelf above Shaggy and Scooby what appears to be a snake in a jar). There were fixed tables placed below the windows on either side of the restaurant and unfixed one's placed near the entrance, comfy almost dinner like chairs around the fixed tables and simple wooden chairs round the unfixed ones. Near the door was a wooden desk complete with cash register with no one currently manning it. A delicious collection of smells filled the restaurant, making Kimberly hungry just by smelling them. Every single part of the restaurant was polished and clean, not quite as polished as Alastair's home had been but nevertheless it was still extremely well taken care of. Jack's looked like a rather nice place to eat as far as restaurants went, except for one thing.

Every table was empty.

Kimberly was just about to ask Alastair about that strange fact when a few large round man walked through two doors at the far end of the restaurant, which presumably led to the kitchen. Upon seeing them his face burst into a smile as he hurried over to them.

"Ah Alastair come to eat here once more!" said the round man jollily, before he turned slightly to look at Kimberly. "But who's this with you?"

"Kimberly." stated Alastair neutrally. "You know, the new dentist's daughter."

"Ah of course, you're just like your farther described you. Lovely to meet you Kimberly." said Jack happily.

"Same here." replied Kimberly. "Alastair said you have the best food in all of New England. Which it certainly smells like you do."

"We certainly do! That smell is finely cooked chicken, turkey roast, clam chowder and apple cinnamon pie." declared Jack ecstatically before he motioned for them to follow him down the centre of the restaurant. "Come be seated, I always have a table open for VIPs."

"VIPs?" asked Kimberly curiously, whispering it so that Jack wouldn't hear her.

"He's always done this for me and Thorn, it's because our fathers get along so well." answered Alastair in a whisper. "He must like your father too I guess."

Jack led them to a fixed table at the back of the restaurant below a picture of an old steam locomotive. Once the two of them had sat down at the table, Alastair sitting below the picture and Kimberly sitting opposite him, Jack gave them each a menu.

"I'll be back in a second." said Jack as he headed over to the kitchen doors. "I've gotta turn the stove on." The fat man then exited through the grey metal kitchen doors. After a minute or so passed, during which Kimberly looked over the menu, Alastair spoke breaking the silence.

"So what will you be having?" queried Thorn's boyfriend, having never opened his own menu.

"Just some chicken nuggets and chips with a coke." answered Kimberly as she put down her menu after deciding to forgo the more complicated and more expensive items on the menu.

"You sure?" asked Alastair. "You don't have to order something so cheap. It's not an issue for me to pay more."

"No I'm sure. I like simpler foods." answered Kimberly. "They're what I'm used to. Thanks anyway though." The odd coloured eyed goth across from her merely nodded in acknowledgement as Jack then returned through the kitchen doors.

"So what do you two want?" asked Jack, his happiness from earlier still in his voice.

"Two chicken nugget meals Jack, each with a coke and chips on the side." answered Alastair neutrally.

"You two sit tight then. They'll be done in a bit." replied Jack before he headed once more back into the kitchen.

"And you were bugging me about having something cheap." said Kimberly, somewhat annoyed.

"What can I say. I like simpler foods aswell sometimes." replied Alastair with a slight smirk on his face. Their conversation then shifted to more mundane things, like school and parts of Oakhaven, until Kimberly said something which appeared to surprise Alastair slightly.

"So Thorn told us about when you asked her out." said the orange haired girl, not really knowing where that statement came from.

"And?" replied Alastair, seemingly not fazed by her comment.

"Well she said you stuttered all over the place, which sounds quite sweet." said Kimberly truthfully, taking note of a small brief smile on Alastair's face when she mentioned that it sounded sweet.

"Well let's say you were male. You'd be stuttering all over the place to if you were asking Thorn out." said Alastair thoughtfully. "Especially if you were best friends with her for as long as I had."

"What's being best friends got to do with it?" asked Kimberly in slight confusion.

"Well for a start I didn't want to…to ruin what we had." stated Alastair. "For me, someone who isn't a wish washy moronic liberal, dating requires a maturity which isn't there in a friendship. There is of course a level of maturity amongst friends of different genders which won't be there amongst male only or female only friends but that is not on the same level. For example Thorn has laid against me before we were dating, however when one is dating that simply act takes on a different meaning and maturity per say. I also was taking Thorn's feelings from the past into account."

"Thorn's feelings from the past?" questioned Kimberly.

"That wasn't a good way of phrasing it." replied Alastair, pausing to think his next words over for a few seconds. "Despite Thorn's comments that guys at are school are jerks, an opinion influenced by all the feminist tosh in our school and the fact that she doesn't know the guys at our school who aren't jerks very well, she's dated two other guys. One was a Swedish exchange student and one was Eric, you know the blue eyed brown haired jock that's on the baseball team, nice chap."

"Yeah I know him." commented Kimberly, remembering that Eric had complimented her hair on wednesday whilst Alastair had been sick.

"Sure she only went with them to a dance or two each but it's worth bringing up because she asked them instead of me. Now I had no problem with that and I still don't but I did worry for a while, partially due to that, that she wouldn't…you know react well to me asking her out due to that. We've been friends for years and I was concerned as to what damage I could have done by asking her out, bringing the maturity of the friendship to a higher level so to speak." said Alastair, for the first time showing signs of awkwardness. "It's stupid and cliché but I didn't want to ruin what we had. I'm pessimistic you see, I focus the worse outcomes more than the best, and in my head 90% of the scenarios which resulted from asking Thorn out were bad."

"That's understandable." said Kimberly, not expecting the conversation to turned down such a route, though it was nice to know the other side of a story. "But I guess you got over that since you did ask her out."

"I didn't get over it. I was thinking on and off about asking Thorn out for around one and a half years or so before I did so." stated Alastair, his voice becoming neutral once more.

"One and a half years!" replied Kimberly in surprise. "That's…that's ages to think over something like that!"

"As I said I was worried about damaging our friendship. Imagine how awkward it would have become if she had rejected me as it were, that incident would be hanging over our time together." continued Alastair. "To be honest I may have taken even longer. It was just when we were hanging out by the stream together I noticed how…well angelic wouldn't be the right word to describe her, Thorn would be annoyed if I described her as such, but that was how she looked in the moonlight that night by the stream. Then I decided to just go for it and ask her out, spur of the moment thing. No planning or thinking it over at all."

"And it worked out well." said Kimberly with a smile.

"It certainly did. I'm glad I did make them step and raise the level of maturity and intimacy between us." said Alastair, more to himself than the orange haired girl. "Besides it has barely changed our friendship. We're still best friends, it's just that hugging, Thorn lying against me, us hanging out together and me tickling her has taken on a bit more of a meaning. Well that and we now kiss each other."

"And you obviously don't regret…raising the level of maturity as you put it." said Kimberly with a smirk, already knowing the answer.

"Of course I don't. You won't either if you were a guy Kimberly." stated Alastair, a smirk curling its way onto his face. "What guy wouldn't want to kiss Thorn?"

"I see your point." replied Kimberly, knowing full well that any guy given the chance would want to kiss Thorn. She just wished she could say the same for herself.

"So let's reverse the conversation as it were. Have you ever dated anyone Kimberly?" asked Alastair curiously. The question slightly startled the orange haired girl, and just as she was about to answer Jack came back in carrying a tray with their food and drinks.

"Here's your meals you two." said Jack happily.

"Thank you." said Alastair neutrally.

"Yeah thanks Jack." added Kimberly.

"You're welcome." replied Jack, giving her a smile. "If you need anything I'll be cleaning up the kitchen." The large round man then exited once more through the kitchen doors.

"So as I was saying prior to our food's arrival." said Alastair as he looked over his food. "Have you ever dated anyone?"

"No I haven't." answered Kimberly, feeling a bit disappointed as she did so before she took a sip of her Sprite.

"Surprising." said her odd coloured eyed friend calmly as she took a sip of her drink. "Seems a lot of guys don't know beauty when they see it then." Kimberly almost spat out her Sprite in surprise at Alastair's words.

"You, you think I'm beautiful?" asked Kimberly in surprise.

"Yes. Can't a guy tell their friend that?" answered Alastair, his expression not changing from its usual neutral state. "I'm merely saying what I see."

"Well…thanks." replied Kimberly, feeling a light blush on her face.

"You're welcome." said Alastair calmly, a smile having crept its way onto his usually neutral face.

"So…why's this place so empty?" asked Kimberly quickly, trying to distract Alastair from her reddened face.

"Well Oakhaven isn't exactly tourism central you know." answered Alastair, pausing briefly to eat one of his chicken nuggets. "As such the Mayor and the committee have been trying to think of a way to put Oakhaven on the map as it were for the past year or so."

"Have they thought up anything?" asked Kimberly curiously, her blush having dissipated.

"Of course they have. Unfortunately many of the ideas were either ineffective or too costly, even with my father's funding." answered Alastair. "He's only willing to spend so much you see. My farther already gives very generous donations to businesses across Oakhaven in order to keep many of them going."

"So the town isn't doing too well." stated Kimberly after eating a nugget.

"No, no it's doing well. Just doesn't have enough money to spend on bringing in tourists for that extra boot." replied Alastair impassively with a wave of his hand. "We get a couple during the Autumn Fest, only a couple leaf peepers though. Even though Ben Ravencroft comes back for a visit during the Autumn Fest."

"Ben Ravencroft!" exclaimed Kimberly, suddenly excited.

"Yes the horror writer, he originates from here, comes back every year for a brief visit. Me and Thorn met him once when we were younger, though I hardly remember it since it was so long ago." replied Alastair neutrally, looking almost as unexpressive as his mother once more. "I presume you've heard of him?"

"Yeah… I like his books. They're what I'm into." replied Kimberly with interest. "Jane's into his books too."

"Good to know you have good taste in literature." said Alastair, chomping down on yet another chicken nugget. "Which one of his books was your favourite? Mine was the Dead Mall, the toy store owner was quite amusing in that one."

"Mine was La Lunaire." answered Kimberly, enjoying the new direction their conversation was taking.

"Ah yes the one about the detective hunting down a murderer in Paris who killed only on full-moons and turned out to be a werewolf. A great read that one, notably focused on the moon." replied the odd coloured eyed guy sitting across from her.

"Well the moon's cool." said Kimberly, having always loved the celestial body.

"Speaking of which it'll be a full moon tonight." said Alastair after taking a sip of his coke. "We should have a good view of it tonight."

"That'll be nice." replied Kimberly. She always made an effort to be outside for at least awhile during a full moon, though every now and then she forgot when the next one was going to be. "It's such a beautiful sight to see."

"Well beautiful people do like beautiful things." said Alastair calmly, causing the orange haired girl to blush again.

"Stop it." replied Luna unseriously with a flustered laugh, Alastair merely smirking in response.

* * *

The full moon was shinying down on the streets of Oakhaven as Jane and Kimberly walked towards the outskirts of the town. The two girls had happened to head out around the same time and met up on the way there, soon beginning a conversation with one another.

Jane was wearing a thick green hoody, black leather trousers and black hiking boots whilst Kimberly was wearing a long sleeved purple top, dark blue jeans and simple black non-high heeled black ankle boots.

"The church we're meant to meet up with is near here, right?" asked Jane, more at ease and happy than Kimberly had previously seen the blonde be. Something Kimberly was curious about the cause of.

"It should be. Alastair was pretty clear on where it is." answered Kimberly. Then the orange haired girl decided to take a chance and ask Jane why she was so happy, hoping that her friend wouldn't turn hostile like she had seen her do so several times in the past two weeks when someone asked her something she didn't want to talk about. "Hey Jane why're you so happy?"

"Huh." replied Jane in confusion. Kimberly mentally slapped herself, what a stupid way to phrase her question.

"What I mean is you seem more at ease than you usually do. You're a lot less…timid." said Kimberly cautiously, preparing for the backlash from the green clad blonde.

But it never came.

"Well it's just us you know…I'm with a friend and not around a lot of jerks, less people to judge or harass you." replied Jane a little quietly. "Well that and I've always been more at ease and happy around this time of day, everything stops during dusk." The blonde then looked up at her a little timidly, moonlight reflecting of her beautifully pale skin. "That's ok right?"

"Yeah it is." answered Kimberly in understanding. "I've always loved dusk aswell; it's when the moon begins to come out."

"You like the moon?" asked Jane in a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"I always have. It's so beautiful, lighting up the night sky as it crosses it." answered Kimberly. "It's just so…other worldly and magical in a way. Like it's some kind of goddess watching over us."

"Goddess?" asked Jane, purely in confusion this time.

"Well it wouldn't be a god. In old religions and myths it's a goddess." answered Kimberly once more. "Luna was one of the goddesses' names."

"It's a beautiful name." muttered Jane.

"Yeah it is." replied Kimberly, getting ever so briefly lost in watching the moon arc gracefully across the night sky.

* * *

A couple minutes later…

* * *

Kimberly was walking alongside Jane along a thin, little worn path round the side of the church yard when they began to hear two voices they immediately recognized, Thorn and Alastair. Shortly after the two girls rounded a corner and caught sight of their other two friends briefly before Jane pulled her down behind a bush.

"What the hell Jane." hissed Kimberly in confusion and annoyance.

"Sorry." whispered Jane in reply quickly, hesitation in her voice. "I'm just curious about what they may say; you know when we're not about."

"So you pulled to the ground just for that." replied Kimberly in a whisper, the annoyance slowly leaving her voice. "You could've just told me that earlier."

"Well it was kinda a spur of the moment thing." whispered Jane sheepishly. "I didn't think it through much." Kimberly merely sighed in response.

"Fine we'll spy on Thorn and Alastair briefly." whispered Kimberly as she sat up slightly and peaked over the bush at the two goths.

"Thanks…and it's not spying." whispered Jane as she too peaked over the bush.

"Yes it is." hissed back Kimberly.

"Arghh fine it is." whispered Jane in annoyance. "But be quiet, I can't make out what they're saying when we're talking."

Kimberly merely rolled her eyes. Looks like Jane became more than less timid during dusk. She then joined Jane in staring at the couple, feeling a bit guilty about doing so.

"Speaking of those two. What do you think of them?" asked Thorn, running a hand through her long hair as she did so.

"Well they're both quite cute." answered Alastair, causing Kimberly to wonder who "them" was refering too. "They each have lovely hair for instance, lovely eyes too."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." replied Thorn in annoyance, poking Alastair in the stomach as she said "you".

"On the contrary it is what you meant Thorn, as it is relevant to what I think of them because appearances matter." replied Alastair calmly. "Anyway Jane is noticeable a bit timid or even at times hostile, yet she's quite friendly once you get to know her. She's also quite smart though she quite obviously chooses to focus her intelligence of the arts rather than the more academic subjects. All in all a nice person to have as a friend, especially with how cute her piercing eyes make her."

"And Kim?" asked Thorn curiously as Kimberly noticed that Jane's cheeks had turned a bright red shade after Alastair's comments about her looks.

"Well she has quite the interest in the moon, as I learnt today when we had lunch. An odd yet good interest to say the least." answered Alastair, Kimberly frowning slightly at the comment about her interest in the moon being odd. Though at least he didn't say it was an obsession like her father did. She wasn't obsessed with the moon…just very interested in it. "She's obviously very intelligent and isn't afraid to show it, good conservationist too. Again a nice person to have as a friend, especially with that beautiful orange hair she has."

"Yeah that's how I feel about them too…you know bar taking appearances into account." said Thorn quickly causing Alastair to smirk slightly.

"Naturally." replied Alastair. Kimberly then blanked out a bit as she thought about what Alastair had said about her. He'd said she was cute, her hair was beautiful and that she had lovely eyes. It was then that she felt her face heating up slightly. It was always nice for a girl to hear a guy say that about her, even if it was just a friend saying it.

Then a sudden change in the tone of Thorn's voice snapped the orange haired girl out of her thoughts.

"What I can't believe is that you choose to meet up with up them behind the graveyard. I mean really could you be more stereotypical." said Thorn as she put her hand on her hip, her tone and stance one of annoyance.

"This spot is easier to find than the place we usually meet up, that has no notable landmarks whilst this has the church as a very easy to spot landmark." replied Alastair matter of factily. "Besides it's not that stereotypical."

"Two goths waiting for their friends behind the graveyard is stereotypical and you know it!" shot back Thorn in annoyance.

"Ok maybe it is a bit." said Alastair neutrally. "But look on the bright side, this spot is more open than our usual meeting place."

"How does that have anything to do with the bright side?" asked Thorn, her annoyed tone gone and replaced with one of confusion. Alastair merely reached out and held her left arm out in front of her in response.

"It lets me see your pale skin shine beautifully in the moonlight." answered Alastair as he ran his fingers along the black haired girls arm. Thorn face immediately began to turn red, easily visible in the white moonlight. "In perfect contrast to your soft long black hair which in turn contrasts with your red highlights." The green eyed girl's blush only increased when Alastair put his arms round her waist pulling her closer to him.

"It makes your pale skin shine beautifully too." replied Thorn ever so slightly flirtily.

"But your skin is far smoother than mine, thus looking better in the moonlight. One of the many differences between males and females, not that it's a bad difference." said Alastair in a slightly dismissive tone, which quickly switched to a sweeter one. "Which when combined with your piercing green eyes and dark attire it makes you look almost vampiric in nature."

"Oh yeah I'm totally vamparic." said Thorn sarcastically. "It's not like I go out in sunlight or anything."

"If I remember correctly you're the girl who in summer sleeps for most of the day to avoid the Sun tanning you skin." said Alastair with a smirk." If that isn't vampiric I don't know what is."

"Says you." rebutted Thorn. "You're the one who…who…arghh forget it."

"I'm the one who is dating the vampiric girl, I believe that's what you meant."

"If I was vampiric I'd be biting your neck right now." said Thorn, stroking Alastair's cheek as she did so. "Draining every last drop."

"Kinky." whispered Jane jokingly, barely supressing a laugh. Kimberly just glanced over at her disapprovingly, not sharing her sense of humour.

"I can't say that would be enjoyable." said Alastair calmly.

"You mean you wouldn't enjoy my lips on your skin." said Thorn flirtily as she fluttered her eyelashes at her black haired boyfriend.

"Tha..that's not what I said." replied Alastair quickly.

"Well it seemed like you said that too me." said Thorn, fluttering her eyelashes once more. Alastair then rather suddenly pushed the green eyed girl back a couple steps until she was pressed up right against a tree, startling her in the process, his body pressed up right against her own slender form. "Umm Alastair what are you…" But Thorn never got to finish her sentence as Alastair closed the distance between their lips, kissing the black haired girl quite intrusively. Though after a few seconds of surprise Thorn began kissing him back with near equal effort.

As Kimberly averted her eyes from the two goths she caught site of Dusk beginning to get to her feet.

"What are you doing?" asked Kimberly in confused whisper.

"Umm duh I'm going to go over and embarrass them." whispered Jane, a mischievous grin grazing her features. "You coming?"

"Of course I am." answered Kimberly in a whisper in annoyance. "We are meant to be meeting them."

"Now look like we just stumbled upon them." whispered Jane as the two of them got to their feet. They then approached the two lovebirds until they were a few metres away from them, neither of them noticing their friends arrival as they made out against the tree. It was then that Kimberly coughed politely causing Thorn and Alastair to freeze immediately.

"Hey girls." said Thorn slightly timidly as she poked her head round the side of Alastair's, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment.

"Hey yourself." replied Kimberly, trying not to laugh at her green eyed friend's reddened face.

"Hope we aren't interrupting anything." added Jane with a smirk as Alastair turned to face them, freeing Thorn as he did so.

"You aren't. We were just passing time whilst we waited for you." said Alastair. His face its usual shade of white with not even a hint of red, obviously not a bit embarrassed about the situation they found the two of them in.

"A..anyway let's get going." stuttered out Thorn quickly, still obviously embarrassed. "Where we hang out is a couple minutes' walk from here." The three of them then did just that, heading down a path between the trees which had been to the left of the tree Thorn and Alastair had been making out against. Thorn led the way with Alastair by her side, his arm round her waist, whilst Jane and Kimberly followed behind them. All the while the moon shone down on the four of them through the tree branches, illuminating their pale skin.

* * *

After four or five minutes of walking, during which they chatted about miscellaneous things, the four teenagers reached a fair small clearing in the forest. The ground was covered by short green grass and had a stream running on the side opposite them, adding the gentle sound of running water to the light night breeze.

"Here we are." declared Thorn as she turned to face them. "Nice isn't it."

"Yeah it is." said Jane.

"Even better than usual." muttered Alastair as he lay down on his back on the grass. "Considering there is a full moon out."

"True." added Thorn as she lay down on Alastair's left side, resting her head on his chest. Kimberly then followed suit and laid down to the right of Alastair, Jane laying down to the right of her shortly after.

The four of them just laid there at first looking up at the moon. The only sounds being the whistling of the wind and the running of the stream. Then after a minute or so Thorn prodded herself up on Alastair's chest with her arms and rested her head in her hand, looking over at the Jane and Kimberly.

"Are you two free tomorrow?" asked Thorn, her black her with its red tints perfectly farming her moon lit face.

"I am now that Alastair helped me with my math homework." replied Jane as she rolled over slightly to look at Thorn.

"Same here." added Kimberly, begrudgingly tearing her eyes away from the moon she loved so much.

"Well wanna come shopping with me in the nearby city tomorrow then?" asked Thorn as her hair blew in the wind. "My Daddy's heading to there tomorrow to buy some stuff none of the local stores sell so transport wouldn't be an issue."

"Sure, but I don't exact have much money to spend." answered Kimberly, excited by the prospect of shopping with a friend, something she'd never done before.

"Neither do I." said Jane, fiddling with her hands nervously.

"Don't worry about it. We'll sort something out." replied Thorn with her usual happy charismatic smile, her green eyes glinting in the moonlight. She then looked down at Alastair below her, some of her hair hitting her face as she did so. "Are you going to come Alastair?"

"Do I get a choice?" asked Alastair with disinterest clear in his voice.

"Nope." replied Thorn cheerfully, causing both Kimberly and Jane to laugh.

"Then I'm coming." said Alastair with a small smile.

* * *

The next morning…

* * *

Kimberly rubbed her eyes as she stepped out of the front door of her house and into the bright morning sunlight, shutting and locking the door behind her shortly after. Hanging out the night before with Thorn, Jane and Alastair had been pretty fun, yet it had also gone on way longer than she expected it to. By the time she had gotten home it had been one o'clock in the morning! Thankfully her father had been understanding and hadn't made much of a fuss about how long she'd stayed out.

They'd arranged for Thorn's farther to pick them all up, bar Alastair whom walked to Thorn's house to get picked up there since it was more convenient than having Mr. McKnight drive out to his family's manor.

As Kimberly walked down the path to the edge of her home's front yard let her thoughts wander. Surprisingly she'd managed to find fifty dollars to spend, mostly thanks to the fact that she rarely went shopping. Though she kept wondering what Thorn had meant when she said that "We'll sort something out." in reply to her and Jane mentioning that they had little money to spend. Nevertheless she was looking forward to shopping with her friend's regardless.

Once the purple clad girl reached the end of her front yard it was only a few minutes wait before Mr. McKnight pulled up in a brown station wagon (just google station wagon and you should see what I'm thinking of), Thorn, Jane and Alastair seated in the back of it.

"Hey Kim." greeted Thorn as Kimberly opened the passenger side door at the front of the vehicle.

"Hey Thorn, Jane, Alastair." replied Kimberly as she sat down in the front passenger seat, smiling at Mr. McKnight as she did so before she rather sluggishly closed the station wagon's door.

"Tired?" inquired Thorn's father.

"I am a bit." answered Kimberly, noticing that Thorn was now resting her head quite happily on Alastair's shoulder.

"Well that's to be expected, what with how late you four were out last night." said Mr. McKnight, briefly looking disapprovingly at his daughter. "You should have kept track of the time better Sally."

"Sorry Daddy." replied Thorn, clearly more interested in whom she was resting her head on than her father's words, Mr. McKnight shoke his head slightly before turning back to face Kimberly. "I presume your father was ok with this outing?"

"Of course he was." answered Kimberly. "Especially since he's out doing something with the mayor today."

"Ah I'd forgotten about that. Mayor Corey invited him round at the recent committee meeting." replied the Pharmacist. "He took quite the liking to your father."

"You know you two can talk as we drive to the city you know." said Thorn, slight annoyance in her voice.

"No need to be rube Sally." said Thorn's father as he started up his station wagon once more. "But you do raise a good point, we should get going in order to miss the midday traffic."

"Finally." mumbled Jane.

* * *

"It's so beautiful." said Kimberly, more to herself than anyone else, as she looked out of the station wagon's window at Oakhaven's countryside. There were green lush vibrant trees everywhere alongside beautiful fields, watermills, old farm buildings and the occasional old covered bridge.

"It is isn't it. That's one of the reasons I've always lived in Oakhaven, both the town and surrounding countryside is beautiful year round." replied Mr. McKnight. "Just wait till autumn, that's when the trees at their best."

"When the Autumn Fest is." stated Alastair neutrally.

"Exactly." said Mr. McKnight. Kimberly then turned slightly to look back at her friends, having been wondering why Thorn and Jane had been quiet for so much of the ride. She soon got her answer.

Both girls were fast asleep, resting their heads on each of Alastair's shoulders.

"Sally always falls asleep in any car ride longer than five minutes. And I guess Jane does so aswell." explained Mr. McKnight, having noticed her looking the two sleeping girls. Thorn's father then laughed briefly. "Alastair's shoulder has ended up as a pillow many times."

"I can't help it. The accent of us refined Britons just draws women to us." said Alastair jokingly, causing both Kimberly and Mr. McKnight to laugh.

* * *

Once they'd finally the city's mall there was a briefly awkward moment when Kimberly had to wake Thorn and Jane up, both of their faces turning beet red due to the position they had been resting in for most of the ride however shortly after the four teenagers successfully disembarked Mr. McKnight's station wagon.

"I'll be back around one." said Mr. McKnight. "Stay safe, and Sally do keep watch on the time." The brown station wagon then drove away down the road, further into the city.

"So where do you want to shop first?" asked Thorn once her father had driven out of sight.

"I don't mind." answered Kimberly, just happy to be going out somewhere with her new found friends.

"A clothing shop would be good." answered Jane. "I've been needing more clothes."

"Clothes shop it is then." said Thorn as she turned to head into the mall, being stopped in her tracks by Alastair lightly grabbing her arm.

"Before you go I have some things I need to give to Jane and Kimberly." stated Alastair neutrally. Thorn turned around in response and looked at him with slight confusion as her odd eyed boyfriend turned from her to face the orange and blonde haired girls. "My mother insisted on giving you some money to spend."

"Why?" asked Jane in confused curiosity.

"It's her way of showing her appreciation for how respectful you were when you visited our home and a little belated welcome gift." answered Alastair rather bluntly, handing them each an open envelope. "In short she took a liking to you two."

Kimberly couldn't help but gasp when she looked inside the envelope, there were two hundred and fifty dollars in notes inside it!

"All this money…is for us." said Jane, a little timidly.

"Yes it is, don't spend it all in one place." replied Alastair with a smile gracing his face briefly before he turned to face Thorn. "I've got some shopping of my own to do in other parts of the city, so I'll meet you three back here later."

"You mean you're not coming shopping with us?" asked Thorn as Kimberly and Jane continued to be amazed at the amount of money they'd been given, disappointment evident in her voice.

"Yes it does." answered Alastair, a distinct lack of disappointment in his voice. "Don't worry though, one of the things I'm buying is for you." The black haired girl's expression lit up at the mention of her boyfriend buying something for her, all the disappointment from before gone.

"Well have fun then." said Thorn before she leant over and kissed Alastair's cheek. Before he could even respond Thorn turned on her heel and began walking towards the mall's doors, Kimberly and Jane hurrying after her, envelopes firmly in their pockets. "Let's go girls."

* * *

The mall wasn't as packed inside as Kimberly had expected it to be. Bar groups of teenagers making their way between shops there were no crowds at all, in fact it looked oddly empty in parts of the fairly spacious centre. Thorn led them right past the shops many other teenagers were congregated at, ignoring the gazes of many a male as she passed their eyes. Not that Kimberly could blame any guy for staring at Thorn.

Eventually Thorn stopped in front of a shop Kimberly would have never noticed had Thorn not led her there. It was cramped down a side corridor behind a sports shop and directly across from a maintenance cupboard. The front of the store was fairly dull and boring, having a black and grey colour scheme. It's only notable feature was the neon logo above the door, Gothique. Kimberly immediately recognized the logo; it was the same one on the magazine she'd been reading the day before that Thorn gave her.

Thorn then pushed open the store's door and held it open as Kimberly and Jane entered the store, both of them glancing around immediately after entering. The store was filled from top to bottom with either black or dark coloured clothing of all types and sizes. As the orange haired girl glanced around the room she noticed several dresses like the ones Thorn usual wore before she remembered that her green eyed friend had mentioned that she bought most of her clothes at a store out in the city. Gothique was obviously that store.

"Hey Thorn." called out the cashier, whom Kimberly assumed knew Thorn from previously visiting the shop, snapping the orange haired girl out of her thoughts in the process.

"Hey Richard." replied Thorn happily as she headed over to the cashier, Jane and Kimberly following either side of her.

"Good to see you again, who are these two?" asked Richard curiously, briefly looking over Jane and Kimberly.

"They're Jane and Kimberly, they moved to Oakhaven two weeks ago." answered Thorn as she motioned to each of them when she said their names, something which was becoming a common occurrence. "We were heading shopping and Jane said she needed to get some new clothes, so that's why we're here."

"Well you naturally picked the best and darkest place to shop." said Richard with a laugh as he left the cashier's desk and walked around to the other side. "So what clothes are you two looking for?"

"Well umm…some dresses would be a good start." answered Jane, becoming a little timid at the sudden attention.

"Dresses it is then!" declared Richard before he began leading them further into the shop amidst the racks of dark coloured clothing.

* * *

After looking through and trying on tons of dresses, skirts, jackets, boots gloves Kimberly finally exited Gothique alongside Thorn and Jane. Both Jane and Kimberly had a bag in either hand whilst Thorn only had a single bag, her's far less filled up than theirs and as such far lighter.

Kimberly reflected that she hadn't bought that much, all of it easily paid for with the money Alastair had given them in place of his mother. She'd bought a couple identical purple shirts and identical dark purple jackets which she thought went well together along with a couple pairs of long purple skirts which had a slit at their hems. She'd also bought a couple pairs of purple fingerless gloves and black boots.

Jane had bought less than her, despite the money from Alastair enabling her to easily pay for the clothing. The blonde had bought a couple identical dark green dresses which had a slit at their hems, not unlike the slits in the skirts Kimberly had bought. She'd also bought a black spiked choker and a couple pairs of black boots.

Thorn hadn't bought much at all in comparison to the two of them. All she'd bought was two new pairs of the red black ankle heels she usually wore, saying that she needed another pair since her old heels were starting to wear.

"So that was a good place to shop, right?" asked Thorn as she led them out of Gothique's side corridor and into the main centre hall of the mall.

"Yeah it was." answered Jane enthusiastically. The blonde had become at ease very quickly once they started looking at clothes in the shop.

"It's where I usually buy my clothes. They have things in my style." replied Thorn as Kimberly glanced at a clock high up on one of the mall's walls.

"It's around twelve o'clock." remarked Kimberly, intent on keeping the time so to not keep Thorn's farther waiting when he came to pick them up.

"That's plenty of time." replied Thorn. "Wanna go buy some make-up?"

"Sure." answered Kimberly, intending to pick up some new make-up to go with the clothes she'd just bought.

"Great, I've been needing to buy more lipstick." replied Thorn before she once more began to confidently lead the two of them through the mall towards the cosmetics shop.

* * *

They'd spent barely any time in the cosmetics shop as there had been no need to try any of the products before buying them, Thorn helpfully pointing out which products were good and which were cons. As the three girls exited the shopping mall Kimberly caught site of Alastair waiting for them, a black clad figure with a neutral expression to any other passer-by, sitting on a nearby bench. When they got closer to him Kimberly noticed that he had two sizeable bags either side of him, presumably his shopping.

"I presume your shopping went well?" inquired Alastair once they reached the bench where he was seated.

"It went great. Jane and Kimberly bought a ton of new clothes." replied Thorn, looking down at her boyfriend sweetly as the three of them stood in front of him before asking semi-excitedly. "So, what did you get for me?"

"Well you mentioned you had almost filled up your sketchbook." answered Alastair, reaching into one of the bags and taking out a fairly thick hard back sketchbook and handing it to Thorn. "So I thought I'd buy you a new one for when you've filled it up."

"Thanks Alastair." replied Thorn as she put sketchbook away in her bag, but not before she leant over a kissed her odd coloured eyed boyfriend on the cheek to show her appreciation.

"And the other two bags are for you two." said Alastair to Kimberly and Jane as he stood up from the bench.

"They are?" replied Jane in puzzlement.

"Yes they are. There's a CD player and some CDs in each of them." said Alastair as he opened each bag so they could see there was indeed a CD player with several CDs in each bag.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you buy us them?" asked Kimberly curiously.

"Because you mentioned that you wished had some way to listen to music at your house via something other than a radio." answered Alastair as he poked Kimberly in the stomach. "And you said you wished that you had a way to listen to music period at your house." continued Alastair as he poked Jane in the stomach to further push his point home. "So I decided to be kind I buy you each a CD player and some CDs I think you may enjoy…plus it gave me a good reason to get out of coming shopping for clothes."

"Oh." said Kimberly, feeling a little bad about questioning her only male friend's act of kindness. "Thanks then."

"Yeah thanks." said Jane enthusiastically.

"You're welcome." said Alastair in reply, a small smile gracing his face.

"Guys Daddy's here." said Thorn, snapping the three of them from their conversation. Then once Alastair picked up the two bags they'd all headed over and got in Mr. McKnight's station wagon. Once they were seated in the same positions as when they had originally driven to the city Mr. McKnight began driving back to Oakhaven, Thorn and Jane quickly falling asleep onto Alastair's shoulders once more.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ So here not much to say really. I'll admit little happened in this chapter in retrospect bar 'Jane' and 'Kimberly' hinting at the names they eventually will adopt and each of them buying the clothes we know them for, but I still hope you all enjoyed it.

That bit about the snake in the jar is more or less true. There's a ton of different objects you can glimpse on the shelf in Jack's restaurantand I swear one is a snake in a jar! That's what it looks like at least.

That was one of the many things I love about the Witch's Ghost and Zombie Island, so much detail in the backgrounds. That along with many other things makes them the pinnacle of both Scooby Doo and Hanna Barbera, neither has risen to that height in terms of animation, colouring, musical scores, voice talent (ok that isn't too true, since those movies voice acting has been superb all round instead of in the past where only Scooby, Shaggy and Fred sounded well voiced) and many other things since then.


	4. Goths at the Beach

Four months after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

She'd changed so much in the past four months.

Or at least she had in terms of her appearance. Kimberly had begun wearing a type of body makeup on her face, neck, upper body and hands which made her skin look paler whilst still retaining her natural light chocolate skin colour, making her skin appear a pale greyish brown colour. Despite all this she'd left her hair its natural orange shade, thanks to some comments about how good it looked from Alastair and the fact that she thought it suited her better than any other colour. She'd also begun wearing purple eyeshadow and dark purple lipstick, to go alongside her new attire.

Now Kimberly commonly wore a dark purple jacket with its sleeves partially rolled up over a purple shirt, a dark purple hobble skirt which covered her legs completely bar the slit running down its hem negating the hobble factor and purple fingerless gloves in the same shade as her shirt and black ever so slightly high heeled boots.

Kimberly liked her new look. It was still the same old orange haired girl she knew and loved but with a new coat of paint, so to speak. Jane had said the same thing when she'd first tried out her new look. Well that and Luna thought it made her look and feel pretty sexy as well.

Then again Jane too had changed. The blonde haired girl now usually wore a long sleeved dark green V-neck dress which like Kimberly's skirt had a slit at its hem, a black spiked choker and black combat boots along with a very recent addition to her appearance, two green triangular ear rings. She also now thick black eye shadow aswell as black and green lipstick, the lipstick combination no doubt being influenced by Thorn's red and black lipstick combination.

Though unlike Kimberly Jane's personality had changed a bit aswell. The blonde was more confident around people now, abet more hostile to people who weren't close to her. It wasn't uncommon for Jane to scowl at anyone who looked at her the wrong way…or at all for that matter.

Thorn had also begun referring to the three of them as eco-goths. The black haired girl had said it was because "We're goths and we love nature, duh." when Kimberly had questioned her about it at one point. Though the orange haired give wasn't really sure if she considered herself much of a goth.

Speaking of which that reminded her of a conversation she'd had with Alastair a week ago…

 _Kimberly was listening to Mrs. Hannam, their history teacher tell them about their end of term assignment, saying that it would a group project. After what seemed like ages the history teacher finished explaining the assignment to the class._

" _Now please get into groups of two so I can give out the task sheet." said Mrs. Hannam as she went over to her desk, the classroom becoming alive as she spoke. Kimberly stood up from her desk slower than the rest of her class and was about to head over to Alastair's desk, him being her only friend in the class, when she turned around to find him standing right behind her._

" _Alastair!" said Kimberly, a little startled by his sudden appearance._

" _Yes?" asked Alastair in amusement, a smirk clearly visible on his face._

" _Want to do the assignment together?" asked Kimberly once she recomposed herself after being startled, straightening out her skirt as she did so._

" _Of course I would." answered Alastair with a kind smile. "Besides us goths have to stick together."_

" _I'm not a goth." replied Kimberly, her expression becoming puzzled._

" _Sure you're not. You wear dark clothes often now, you wear pale make-up, you regularly hang out with me and Thorn, you love being out at night under the moon and you love things dark, supernatural or horror related. Yeah you're totally not a goth." said Alastair sarcastically. Before Kimberly could make a retort however Mrs. Hannam began to tell the class more about the assignment as she handed it out, halting their conversation._

Was she a goth? She didn't feel like one, not that she knew what being one felt like.

Kimberly didn't really care what she was though. The orange haired girl was happy with her interests, with her friends and how she looked and that was all that mattered to her. She'd gotten over worrying about what people thought of her in the past four months after she started getting disapproving looks from other girls and Cindy picking on her, Thorn and Jane. The looks had intensified once she began dressing as she did. But she wasn't some overly sensitive weakling and just ignored the looks, who cared what they thought?

A quote from Alastair came to mind. _"There are two types of people in this world, those who like me and those who can go to hell."_

Though ever since Kimberly began dressing as she now did guys had been both complimenting and looking at her more. A change she didn't mind in the least, it was nice to finally get some attention from the opposite gender for once. Though that still didn't mean any of them had asked her out to the End of Year Dance which was happening tonight, which was disappointing. Still she was going round to Alastair's house on Sunday for a movie night so that partially made up for the disappointment. Instead she was going to explore some of the woods which surrounded Oakhaven with Jane, the blonde also didn't get asked out to the dance. Though Kimberly suspected that was because Jane was quite hostile and unapproachable for anyone who wasn't close to her. After she punched a jock who attempted hit on her and, wouldn't take no for an answer, where the sun doesn't shine no guy was willing to do the same and risk getting the same painful response.

Still even though she wasn't going to the dance she was making an effort with her appearance. It was the last day of the school year after all and she did want to look nice for it.

Kimberly sighed as she opened her locker to collect her textbooks and assorted school related things. The last day of the school year had dragged on way longer than she expected it too, leaving her a bit exhausted.

However one nice thing about it being the last day was how empty the hallways were. Anyone who was going to the End of Year Dance had already gone off to it in the decorated Sports Hall and anyone who wasn't going had left the school in a rush, excited for the summer holidays. That is everyone had left who wasn't going to the dance bar herself and Jane, they were taking their time packing their belongs. What was the reason to rush? The summer holidays weren't going anywhere.

"Wanna explore the bit near the old tree stump tonight?" asked Jane, snapping Kimberly out of her thoughts.

"Sure." answered Kimberly. "The meadow there has such a lovely view of the moon."

"It's always about the moon for you isn't it." replied Jane somewhat jokingly, before suddenly frowning and heading back to putting things in her bag.

"Hey Jane, hey Kim." said a voice Kimberly immediately recognized.

"Hey Eric." said Kimberly as she turned around to face the blue eyed baseball player, whom was often friendly to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question. I'd have thought Thorn would have dragged you to off to the dance like she did with Alastair." replied Eric.

"Well no one asked us to it." replied Kimberly matter of factily. "So we aren't going."

"Not that we care." added Jane somewhat aggressively.

"That's surprising considering how often the other guys were commenting on you two." said Eric with genuine surprise in his voice. "You two should've said something!" Kimberly was about to replied when Jane suddenly cut in.

"I'm going to go wait outside Kim, it's too warm in here." said Jane rather quickly, less hostility in her voice. Before she slammed her locker's door, now graffitied with twisted and demonic looking music notes around the handle, span on her heel and headed right down the hallway.

"She's cute isn't she." commented Eric, more to himself than Kimberly as he watched as Jane kicked open the doors at the other end of the hallway and headed through them.

"Someone has a crush." joked Kimberly as she continued putting her belongings in her bag.

"Not really. I just think she's cute. Unapproachable but cute." replied Eric as he leant against the locker next to Kimberly's, also known as Thorn's. Still staring at where Jane had been a few seconds before. "Anyway I'm still here because I was helping Coach Cadaver lock up all the sports equipment for the summer."

"You're not going to the dance?" asked Kimberly, now it was her turn to be surprised. Eric was a fairly good looking popular guy, if anyone was going to the dance it would be him.

"Yeah I'm not. I didn't feel like it." answered Eric as he ran his hand through his brown hair. "Couldn't find the right girl to take to it, you know? And I'm not going by myself."

"You mean you just didn't ask Jane to it." teased Kimberly as a light blush appeared on Eric's face.

"That's not it." he said dismissively with a wave of his hand whilst his face said otherwise.

"Sure it isn't." replied Kimberly knowingly as she shut her locker, having finished packing away her belongings. "Anyway nice talking to you Eric."

"Nice talking to you aswell Kim." said Eric with one of the kind smiles she knew him for. "Remember if no one's asking you to a dance just tell me. There's quite a few guys I can think of who would be happy to good to a dance with you."

"Thanks." said Kimberly as she flashed Eric one of the smiles Thorn always did when she turned down a guy who was hitting on her. "But as Jane said us eco-goths don't care that much about dances."

* * *

A day later…

* * *

"So how was the dance?" asked Kimberly as she walked along the dilapidated road to Alastair's house alongside Thorn and Jane, the tall miscoloured brick wall of the property on their left side.

"It was ok. Me and Alastair had quite a bit of fun. Though the music could have been better." answered Thorn happily. "Did you too have fun doing…whatever you did instead?"

"Well it was interesting see more of the area around Oakhaven." replied Kimberly. "Right Jane?"

"Yeah." said Jane, obviously not interested in the line of conversation.

"It is way better in the Autumn, that's the best season here." said Thorn as they finally reached the gate to Alastair's family's home. "Anyway here we are."

"The gate's unlocked." commented Jane in confusion. "It's never been liked that before." It certainly hadn't. Kimberly had been to Alastair's home six times in the past four months, never had the gates been unlocked before. Each time Igor had come and unlocked and opened the gates for them, yet the Russain servant was nowhere in sight.

"Igor was probably just prepared for our arrival." replied Thorn with a shrug before she pushed open one of the gates enough so that she could pass through the entrance way, which she did before turning around to face them. "C'mon Alastair will be waiting for us."

Kimberly then promptly followed Jane through the entrance way after Thorn, closing it behind the three of them, before they walked up to the doorway of the manor. When they reached the big thick dark oak front door Thorn knocked on it several times before they waited…and waited…and waited.

However they never got an answer. No one had come to open the door.

"That's odd." commented Thorn, a confused expression on the green eyed girls face. "Someone always usually answers the door. Usually Igor or Mowgli."

"Maybe something happened." said Kimberly, trying to offer and an to the odd reception they had received.

"Or they forgot we're coming." mumbled Jane.

Thorn look like she was about to contest the shorter blonde haired girl's comment when a faint sound broke the eerie silence of the Selous Manor's grounds. Kimberly immediately recognized it as singing, thought he words were in a language she couldn't understand. The three girls just stood there listening to the singing, the song sounded quite depressing.

"That's sounds like it's his mother." said Jane, breaking their silent stance.

"It sounds like she round the back of the manor." added Kimberly.

"Let's go check if she is then." said Thorn before determinedly in walking off the path and heading towards the side of the manor, Jane and Kimberly following either side of her once they caught up to their black haired friend's stride.

* * *

It took them a couple minutes but once they navigated the jungle of plants which grew on grass at the side of the manor they finally arrived in the backyard. It was a mostly symmetrical yard with similar statues and plants as the front yard, the only notable feature being the rectangular fountain in the centre of the grass and the large stone patio with its stone ornate guard rail around its edges.

On the patio was Zofia, singing as she painted a canvas placed on an easel stationed in a shady corner out of the way of the sun, not a speck of paint on her usual black dress. Once she caught site of the three of them she stopped singing immediately, smiling kindly at them and patiently waited as they maneuverered their way around the garden till they reached her on the stone patio.

"It is always a pleasure to see the three of you, Thorn, Jane and Kimberly." said Zofia in her ever neutral voice, her expression changing to one of confusion. "But why did you come round the back of our home?"

"The front door was locked." answered Thorn simply.

"Yeah and the gate was unlocked yet Igor wasn't around." added Jane.

"I must apologize for my forgetfulness." said Zofia, her voice apologetic. "My husband is currently out at a meeting with his brother in Boston leaving me in charge of our home. I completely forgot you three were coming here today, thus why Igor was on a break when you arrived."

"It's ok." replied Thorn. "Though why was the gate unlocked?"

"My husband always forgets to lock it when he leaves. It is one of his few faults." answered Zofia, having regained her neutral tone of voice.

"What were you singing?" asked Jane in a mixture of shyness and curiosity.

"Souliko. It is an old Georgian folksong about a lost loved one. It's is commonly sung in Eastern Europe because it was regularly played on the radio in the Soviet Union, where I was born." said Zofia, her eyes looking far away at the mention of the Soviet Union.

"Why'd they play that on the radio?" asked Kimberly in confusion. The peaceful song didn't sound much like the few pieces of Communist music she'd heard in history classes.

"It was the favourite song of Joseph Stalin, as he was Georgian. Thus he popularized it when he led the Union." answered Zofia, her eyes still looking very distant. "My mother used to sing it to me as a child. It brings back memories of my childhood."

Silence then descended on the balcony, neither of the three girls knowing what to say in response to Alastair's mother's answers and her very distant, always lost look.

"Anyway that's neither here nor there. You came to watch movies with my son, not listen to someone from a deceased country speak of the past." said Zofia as she turned away from the three of them before she began to lead them towards the patio's ornate doors, the shapes of flowers and vines carved into their wooden borders.

Though Kimberly caught a glimpse, a mere split second of something she never thought she would see on Zofia's face. The six times she had previously been there she had never seen her expression be anything other than neutrality or a kind smile. She'd turned away from them so quick that Kimberly wasn't sure she had seen what she believed she saw.

Zofia had a tear running down her face.

* * *

"My son should be in here." said Zofia softly as she stopped in front of one of the many identical doors littering one of the many hallways of Alastair's home.

"Cool." replied Thorn as she pushed open the door and headed inside, Jane following after her whilst Zofia turned and headed silently back the way they had come. Kimberly glanced back at Alastair's mother briefly, she couldn't help but see why Thorn sometimes looked in awe of her. She was beautiful, feminine, a skilled cook, artistic, knowledgeable and most of all happy. Sure she commonly had a neutral expression on her face but Kimberly had seen throughout her visits that Zofia was extremely happy, she never showed any signs of stress though the only times her happiness was noticeable was when she was with Albert (Alastair's father, in case anyone forgot) and Alastair. She quite obviously wasn't the head of the household but she was the one keeping everything in order, be it deciding what they would have for lunch and dinner or reining in Alastair's father's eccentricities whilst still having time to paint and tend to the many plants she had littering several of the manor's rooms, the outside grounds of the manor being Igor's domain. Zofia was a wife, a mother, a cook, a painter, a gardener, a singer, happy and most of all a woman. Kimberly couldn't help but admired her.

Which reminded her of something she envied Alastair for other than that he lived in a lovely old fashioned furnished home. She envied the fact that his parents were married, kind, happy and caring towards one another. The orange haired girl wished her mother had been like that…instead of becoming a woman who didn't care about herself, her husband, her daughter, her appearance, her house and just sat at home getting drunk whilst being orange from many a spray tan. It was thanks to her that she had to travel across the country with her father whilst he desperately looked for a permanent job.

"Hey Kim you coming!" called Thorn, breaking Kimberly from her thoughts.

"Yeah I am." called back Kimberly as she headed into the room, thankfully that her and her father's troubles were all in the past now.

The room Kimberly was now in was quite small compared to the other rooms she'd seen thus far in the manor. It was roughly five metres by four metres and had ornate rectangular dark oak panelling on the walls and ceiling. The wooden floor was less polished than the other floors of the manor but the reason for that was quickly evident. It was a room designed for entertainment, not showing off or refinement. In the centre of the room was a large dark red rectangular rug with no distinguishing features other than its colour on top of which was a fairly long Victorian couch, it's legs and back carved to look like they were dragons with their heads backing as the couch's feet. Placed against the wall on a table opposite the couch was a larger than usual CTR with a VHS player attached on a shelf underneath it, either side of it were two small dark oak cabinets with glass doors filled with HS video tapes.

Kimberly quickly headed over to the couch, where Thorn, Jane and Alastair were seated, and sat down on the left hand side of the couch to the left of Jane.

"So what do you want to watch?" asked Thorn, seated on the right side of Jane and to the left of Alastair.

"What do you have?" asked Kimberly as she looked past Thorn to Alastair.

"Alien Crusaders, Legend of the Anchor, Cyber Race, Monster of Texaco, Zombie Ireland, Loch Ness Imposter, Ghoul Hall, Witch's Toast, Roo Brothers, The Enthusiastic Werewolf... " listed Alastair neutrally as Thorn turned to face him, her long black hair hitting Jane in the face due to their close proximity on the couch.

"So crap movies." interupted Jane, who was obviously a bit annoyed at getting hit by Thorn's hair.

"That's exactly the sort of movies we have. They're all mostly, as you put it, crap." replied Alastair neutrally. "Blame Igor. My mother told him to buy movies, notably not with the word good beforehand, so he did just that. As such most of what he's bought over the years isn't very good."

"Let's watch Witch's Toast first then." said Kimberly as Thorn turned to face her. This time her hair hit Alastair in the face, though he rather noticeably didn't mind much. "That one is at least funny."

"Ok." said Thorn as she got off the couch and went over to one of the wooden cabinets. As the green eyed girl leant down to open the cabinet and get the Witch's Toast Kimberly noticed that Alastair's eyes were looking towards Thorn's ass. Only briefly though before he quickly looked away, a light blush visible on his cheeks. The orange haired girl barely managed to stop herself letting out a laugh at Alastair whilst Thorn put the VHS in the VHS player and headed back over to the couch, where she sat on Alastair's lap which only caused him to blush more as Jane grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The screen greeting them with a corny lime green logo and low budget techno music (totally not a reference to how the Witch's Ghost DVD has one of the laziest title screens I've ever seen).

* * *

Three hours later…

* * *

Kimberly felt her eyelids begin to waver as Roo Brothers reached its climatic scene. Jane had already fallen asleep as had Thorn, the black haired girl having nodded off shortly after she laid her head on Alastair's shoulder. The orange haired girl couldn't tell if Alastair was awake as Thorn and his hair hid his face from her view.

She let out a yawn, soon her father would be no doubt coming to pick her up.

Then several minutes later as a small brown dog was punching a skeleton on screen Kimberly's eyelids fluttered closed as she joined Thorn and Jane in dreamland.

* * *

The next day…

* * *

After a long restful sleep Kimberly's eyes began to open, her mind confused at first by her surroundings. She was on a couch in what appeared to be Alastair's house, surely she should have been resting in her own bed in her house.

Then as her brain shoke of its tiredness she remembered that the three of them had gone to Alastair's for a movie night and assumed that she must have fallen asleep during one of the movies. Though that didn't explain why her father hadn't picked her up the night before.

It was then that the orange haired girl was snapped out of her thoughts by movement on top of her legs. She looked down and was face to face with a large black cat with puffy untamed fur, its pair of big brown eyes staring it her own pair. After a few seconds of staring at the cat who had decided to sit on her lap Kimberly remembered who the cat was.

"Stalin?" asked Kimberly curiously.

"Meow." replied the puffy black cat before rubbing its cheek against her.

"He's always liked purple things. Thus he naturally took a liking to you due to how you dress." commented a voice Kimberly recognized right away, noticing shortly after that Alastair had entered the room whilst she'd being looking at Stalin the cat.

"Oh." commented Kimberly in both a reply and surprise at Alastair's sudden presence.

"And since you're no doubt wondering why you, Thorn and Jane are still here I'll tell you. We all fell asleep partway through Roo Brothers and my mother decided since we all looked so peaceful to let you three sleep." said Alastair neutrally. "Thus she called your father along with Thorn's father and Jane's grandparents to postpone them picking you three up till today as she did not wish to interrupt your sleep."

"Thanks for clearing that up." said Kimberly as she began stroke Stalin the cat. "I was a bit confused at first."

"You're welcome." said Alastair in reply as Stalin the cat purred happily at Kimberly's touched. "That was the easy part."

"Easy part?" asked Kimberly in confusion.

"It was easy telling you why're you're still here. The hard part is waking Thorn and Jane up." answered Alastair as he glanced over at the sleeping forms of their black and blonde haired friends, displeasure clear in his voice. "Thorn's gets angry enough when you wake her up and she's generally a happy friendly person. I can only imagine how Jane will react to getting woken up."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worse." said Kimberly in reply with a light smile.

"That's what I'm already doing." replied Alastair, flashing her a small semi-sheepish smile.

* * *

After Alastair had woken up both Thorn and Jane, earning a glare and an annoyed exchange from Thorn and a punch on the arm from Jane, the four of them had headed off to have breakfast. It had gone by pretty quickly as Albert was still away on business as Zofia quite obviously wasn't much of a conversationalist, Alastair leaving partway through to go feed the cats.

However just as they were leaving the dining room where they had eaten their breakfast Zofia spoke to them.

"Jane may I have a word with you, in private?" asked Zofia, having silently appeared behind them.

"Umm sure." answered Jane, confusion clear on her face and she re-entered the dining room.

"I'll be just a minute." said Zofia to Thorn and Kimberly before pushing the door till it was open only a brief crack, confusing both of them.

Shortly after Thorn putting her ear to the small space left open by the door, motioning for Kimberly to do the same.

"C'mon let's see what Zofia has to say." said Thorn. Despite her best judgement Kimberly followed suit, feeling a little guilty about eavesdropping on Zofia and Jane.

" _Jane you live with your grandparents, correct?" inquired Zofia neutrally._

" _Yes." answered Jane, her tone one of slightly hostility._

" _I presume your parents are divorced then?" asked Zofia, her voice still neutral._

" _Yeah they are." answered Jane, her voice clearly with hostility now._

" _Well I just wanted to say that if you ever need any help or advice in a matter relating to their divorce to ask me." said Zofia, her voice now kind and motherly unlike her usual neutral tone. "My parents divorced when I was young aswell, I know what it is like to go through that."_

" _Th..thanks." stuttered out Jane. All hostility in her voice had vanished. "But I'm coping."_

" _I know you are." replied Zofia. "But remember if you need any help with it just ask me."_

Kimberly then dragged Thorn back quickly as Zofia began to open the door, the two of them looking like they'd just been waiting and not eavesdropping on Jane and Zofia.

"Thanks." said Jane timidly as she turned to face Zofia once the two of them had exited the dining room.

"You're welcome." said Zofia kindly before turning to look at Thorn and Kimberly. "The three of you should go wait out in the front of the manor now to be picked up. Alastair shall no doubt be there too."

* * *

Four days later…

* * *

Kimberly squinted as she exited the changing room and walked out into the bright sunlight. It had taken a bit of convincing but Thorn had managed to get her and Jane to go to a beach with her. The two of them had been against the idea at first because neither of them enjoyed beaches much, they didn't like being around so many people or the stares you got by strangers, but they'd come on board with the idea when Thorn had mentioned that they would go to Alastair's family's private beach, thus no people.

Well that and Thorn's cousin Lindsay was visiting and Kimberly knew that Thorn wanted the four of them to spend time with her cousin.

The beach was in a small coastal inlet which sheltered it from both wind, the view of any boat which may pass by. Around it was fairly thick forest which on the right side of the beach creating a large area of shade. At the opposite end of the beach to the sea was a small brick building with two doors. One door led to the male changing room, which Alastair obviously got all to himself, and the other led to the female changing room which Kimberly had to share with Thorn, Jane and Lindsay. There was also a wooden picnic table in quite good condition near the small brick changing rooms, five deck chairs in a line on the sandy beach placed on the edge of the patch of shade and a volley ball net out in the sunny side of the beach.

Once Kimberly's eyes adjusted to the sunlight she spotted Alastair over to the right of the deck chairs well inside the shady part of the beach, building something with sand. He was only wearing some black swimming trunks leaving his well-toned obviously shaved chest, legs and arms easily visible. Then again her body was easily visible aswell. She was just wearing a dark purple bikini top and a dark purple long sarong.

"What are you building?" asked Kimberly after she had made her way over to where Alastair was sitting cross legged on the sand.

"A building." replied Alastair neutrally. "Just something to pass time whilst I waited for you four to get changed."

"Yeah well some of us take longer than others." said Kimberly in slight annoyance.

"You mistake what I was saying. I didn't mean to make it sound like you were taking ages." said Alastair apologetically as he stood up from where he had been sitting.

"Oh." replied Kimberly, a little ashamed of her quick assumption.

"Though in the case of Thorn I imagine she'll take a while." said Alastair, his eyes notably focused on her face and not the rest of her body, which Kimberly both appreciated and was a little disappointed by. "No doubt she's making a fuss about how much sun cream she needs, worrying about burning her pale skin."

"How'd you guess?" asked Kimberly with a laugh at her odd coloured eyed friend's comment.

"Thorn's always worrying about it whenever we go somewhere in the summer. She doesn't want to get burnt at all or even worse get a tan." answered Alastair with a smirk. "Though I don't want either of those things to happen to me either yet you don't see me making a fuss. Just put on a bit of sun cream and don't stand in the sun all the time and you won't get burnt or a tan."

"I take it you don't like tans." commented Kimberly, picking up on Alastair's tone when he mentioned them.

"No I don't. To me they look unhealthy on either gender if isn't a person's natural skin colour, such as an Indian's." replied Alastair. "Well that and I personally find pale skin more attractive...your's being a prime exaple. It's harder to maintain than a tan and was a sign of high status across all countries and cultures in days gone by. Not that non-pale skin is unattractive; it's just personal preference on my part."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** Pale skin was a sign of high status across every single culture on the Earth in the years gone by because back then most low ranking people worked outside on farms or something similar, hence causing them to have tanned skin. Thus if you had tanned skin it inplied for were of a lower class (as most outside jobs were done by the lower class) hence pale skin was associated with the upper classes as they worked in doors. _

_Which makes sense in a way. As the upper classes would stay inside more which would cause their skin to be paler. Hence it becoming associated with power, beauty and the like across every culture on the planet. Which gave us Europeans a little bonus advantage when we conquered the world because people assumed we must be really important or at times even godly beings because we were so pale (as we are all pale for the most part regardless of job or class)._

 _For example the Aztecs (far detached from the paleness of Europe) for instance had several gods who were pale skinned, thus when the Spanish arrived they assumed they were some sort of godly being and were hesitant to attack the Spanish full force...and we know how that worked out for the bloodthirsty yet quite artistic Aztecs._

 _Just an interesting relevent fact I'd thought I'd throw in._

* * *

But before they could continue their conversation any further they were interupted by Thorn, Jane and Lindsay walking over to them, each of them having finished changing. Jane and Lindsay were wearing bikini tops and long sarongs were just like Kimberly was, abet Jane's were dark green and Lindsay's were white. Thorn's on the over hand was different, her bikini top was black as was her long sarong yet her sarong had several red bat silhouettes on it which matched her highlights perfectly. Thorn then wasted no time in headed right up to Alastair, leaving little space between the two of them.

"So Alastair, like what you see?" asked Thorn as she flashed Alastair one of the sultry smiles Kimberly had only ever seen the black haired girl use around him.

"When it comes to you Thorn, I always like what I see." replied Alastair as he put his hands on Thorn's slender waist, each on them staring into the other's eyes.

"So Kimberly we were thinking of playing Volley Ball. If the two lovebirds are finished." commented Lindsay, distaste in her voice when she talked about the lovebirds.

"Sure, that sounds fun." replied Kimberly as Alastair finally broke away from Thorn, the black haired girl frowning slightly as he did so.

"It certainly does." added Alastair. "Especially since I'll beat all of you easily."

"Is that a challenge." replied Jane, whom Kimberly had learnt was surprisingly competitive at times.

"It certainly is." said Alastair in a good natured taunting manner. "I doubt it will be that hard to beat four girls."

"Oh you're on." declared Lindsay as she began heading over to the net.

"You'll be eating those words." added Jane, following behind Lindsay.

"I doubt it." taunted Alastair with a laugh as he grabbed Thorn's hand and led her over to the net, Kimberly following behind them.

* * *

Sure enough Alastair did not eat his words. Instead he beat them with ease and athleticsm Kimberly had never realised he had. The only one of them to ever score a point against him was Thorn, and Kimberly was pretty sure that Thorn had only scared a point because Alastair had let her.

So instead Kimberly was laying on one of the beach chairs besides Lindsay and Thorn, the latter of the three using a deck chair which was firmly in the shady part of the beach and out of the sun's rays. Thorn was staring out at Alastair as he continued to play volley ball against Jane, the blonde doing quite well due to her opponent's fatigue.

"So you and Alastair are still dating then." commented Lindsay as she ran her hand through her long brown hair.

"Yeah." replied Thorn, her gaze still on Alastair alongside most of her attention.

"You all there?" asked Lindsay as she looked over at Thorn.

"Yeah." replied Thorn, blatantly not paying any attention to her brown haired cousin.

"And to think it wasn't long ago that she said boys were yuck." said Lindsay jokingly to Kimberly, causing the orange haired girl to laugh.

"Yeah when I was 10!" shot back Thorn, Lindsay's remark snapping her to attention. "Every girl thinks that at that age!"

Lindsay merely laughed as she stood up from her deck chair, straightening out her sarong as she did so. "I knew that'd snap you out of your mindless lovey dovey state." Thorn merely crossed her arms and frowned at her cousin.

"Well I'm going to go play volley ball again with those two. Wanna come Kim?" asked Lindsay, annoying Kimberly that even Thorn's cousin was now shortening her name.

"No thanks." answered Kimberly, perfectly content with relaxing with Thorn on the deck chairs.

"Suit yourself." said Lindsay before she began walking over to Alastair and Jane, joining in shortly after.

* * *

A few minutes later…

* * *

The two girls were just lying back on the deck chairs relaxing when Thorn rolled over onto her side and asked "What do you want to do after high school Kim?"

"I don't know." replied Kimberly, caught out of the blue by the sudden question. "I haven't given it much thought. Have you?"

"Well I kinda have." answered Thorn. "I've always wanted to be in a band."

"But?" asked Kimberly as she too rolled over onto her side, picking up on the uncertain tone in her black haired friend's voice.

"Well I've never had the guts to bring it up with anyone. Alastair certainly won't want to be in a band and I have no instruments of my own." answered Thorn, smiling a bit sheepishly before she continued. "So it's just remained a bit of a pipe dream."

"You could always ask me and Jane." said Kimberly, not fully thinking through what she was saying.

"Really?" replied Thorn hopefully, clearly excited by the prospect.

"Well we have sung and played instruments together in music class and we we're pretty good there." answered Kimberly truthfully, having enjoyed writing and playing songs with Thorn and Jane. "Besides being in a band sounds like it'd be pretty fun."

"Yeah well it's not like that'll ever happen though." said Thorn, becoming a bit uncertain and almost dejected again. "We don't have any instruments of our own."

"Couldn't you just ask Alastair to buy instruments." said Kimberly.

"I could but I don't want to Kim. I know Alastair would if I asked him but…I don't want to be that kind of girlfriend. I don't want him to buy me things because I ask or nag him too all the time." said Thorn thoughtfully. "I want him to buy me things unless if he wishes too, you know like when he bought me that sketchbook when we were at the mall. I don't want to be like Cindy was with her boyfriends, before they all dumped her."

Thorn then paused briefly as Kimberly laughed. The orange haired girl could easily picture how pissed off Cindy would be at a guy dumping her.

"Besides I rely on him too much, without his help I'd have never passed Math or Biology class, hell I'd have barely passed grade six Science without his help. I know Alastair has no problem with it but I know he won't always be around for me to rely on." continued Thorn. "And I want to be prepared for that day. Plus I don't want to make me feel like a burden to him or that he always has to solve my problems."

"What do you mean about him not always be around?" asked Kimberly, a little confused as the phrase "Not always be around" made the orange haired girl think of death. And she was pretty sure that wasn't what Thorn was talking about…she wasn't that stereotypically gothy.

"Alastair wants to be an architect ever since I first met him, probably longer than that. When I went to his house when we were younger Zofia would complain about him leaving Lego everywhere." answered Thorn, giggling at the memory. "He's had it planned out for years on how he will achieve that career. But it obviously involves him going to University and…well he's decided he wants to go to Moscow State University. And that's a long distance away."

"I see what you mean." replied Kimberly. Moscow certainly was a long way away from Oakhaven and Thorn certainly wouldn't be able to rely on Alastair when he would be there.

"Besides." began Thorn with a smirk. "I doubt Alastair knows anything about instruments."

* * *

Half an hour later…

* * *

During lunch Lindsay had suggested that the five of them go paddling out in the sea because as she put it "What is the point in going to the beach if you don't go in the sea." And so that's where the five of them were now, despite Thorn's protests over what the sea water would do to her hair.

Kimberly was standing beside Lindsay, the two of them just enjoying the feeling of the water on their skin whilst Alastair and Jane were splashing water and one another, each of them laughing as they did so. Kimberly couldn't help but smile at the sight, it was nice to see Jane not be so timid around someone other than Thorn and herself.

Speaking of her black haired friend, Thorn was off to the side trying in vain to stop the water hitting her hair, holding it up slightly so the water wouldn't hit it.

Then all over a sudden Jane splashed Alastair with more force than she had previously, causing quite a bit of water to hit him and both of them to laugh. He then splashed back at equal force at Jane however the water hit more than Jane. Some of it hit Thorn, soaking her from top to bottom and causing her to her shriek in surprise.

"ALASTAIR!" shrieked Thorn in anger as she stomped through the waves towards him, not caring about her hair touching the water anymore. When the green eyed girl finally reached him she shrieked in his face "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"

"It was an accident." stated Alastair calmly in face of Thorn, despite it looking like she was about to go berserk at him over him accidently splashing her hair. "And I'm sorry for causing it. Though you do realise it's just sea water."

"Do you realise how long it takes to dry my hair!" shrieked Thorn as she shoved Alastair, which due to their strength difference barely phased or moved him. "Ages that's how long! And now it's going to smell like seawater!" She then paused briefly, seemingly calming down slightly before turning on her heel, her hair hitting Alastair's chest as she did so. "You know what! Just forget it!" said Thorn before she began moodily walking away from Alastair.

That would have been the end of it, if not for what Alastair did next. He reached forward and wrapped his arms around Thorn's slender waist, pulling her backwards and up against his body not unlike he had the day Kimberly had first met both of them.

"What the hell are you doing!" said Thorn, annoyance clearly still in her voice.

"The point of going to the beach is to have fun. And you're obviously not having fun." stated Alastair calmly, before a smirk unseen to Thorn grazed his lips. "So I've taken it upon myself to make you have fun." Then one of his hands began to tickle Thorn's stomach causing the black haired girl to both thrash and burst into laughter, all the while Kimberly just watched the spectacle alongside Lindsay and Jane.

"St..stop!" said Thorn in between laughs as she thrashed around and attempted to get out of Alastair's grip to no avail. Despite what a passer-by's may have thought, if there had been any passer-by's, Thorn was obviously enjoying herself. Her expression was exactly as it had been one night when they'd met up at the forest clearing they commonly frequented and Alastair had tickled Thorn, happy and enjoying herself.

"Not until you lighten up." replied Alastair, his mind obviously only focused on Thorn and her joyful laughter. "Besides I'm enjoying this."

Alastair then kept tickling Thorn a little longer before he finally realised her from his grip, taking her hand in his in the process.

"Happy now?" asked Alastair as he looked into Thorn's green eyes.

"Yeah." answered Thorn, clearly far happier than she had been when Alastair had been trying to avoid getting her hair wet previously.

"Good. Now let's get you dry." said Alastair before he and Thorn began walking back towards the beach, hand in hand with happy content smiles on their faces.

Kimberly, Lindsay and Jane just stood there watching the couple in silence. That is until Jane remarked.

"Remind me never to get Thorn's hair wet. Like ever."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ I love that scene at the end. I can picture it so clearly in my mind and Thorn getting pissed off about something like that amuses me every time.

The whole thing about Lindsay Pagano being Thorn's cousion is something which popped into my head randomly a while back, so I decided to finally use it here (since both Thorn and Lindsay are singers, and Kimberly Brooks aka Luna voiced one of Lindsay's backup singers in Riva Ras Regas). Though I had no idea she wasn't just a character in WNSD, but a real person, unlike I googled to find the character's last name.

Anyway references time: 1. Alien Crusaders, Legend of the Anchor, Cyber Race, Monster of Texaco, Zombie Ireland, Loch Ness Imposter, Ghoul Hall, Witch's Toast, Roo Brothers and The Enthusiastic Werewolf are obviously thinly veiled references to those fantastic Scooby Doo movies. That reference name came about since I needed some cheesy bad sounding movie names, so instead of finding real movies I just modified the names of Scooby ones for a laugh and it worked out pretty well.

Though Roo Brothers totally sounds like something I want to watch. Speaking of which the comment about "a small brown dog punching a skeleton" is a slight reference to Scrappy Doo!

2\. Coach Cadaver is a reference to the character of the same name from Gravedale High, an odd little show (only 13 episodes) from the early 90s that I found last summer. Worth checking out if you ever have some time to kill. It's by Hanna Barbera too.

3\. Souliko is indeed an old Georgian folk song and is believed to be Joseph Stalin's favorite song. There's never been any conclusive proof that it was but why else would it be on the radio stations in the USSR so much otherwise, it doesn't fit in with the themes of the other Soviet songs. Also Stalin was Georgian, not Russian as many people think. Thus it's entirely likely he heard it in his childhood, as it is a quite peaceful song. It shows that despite how much Stalin was a tyrantical, sadistic, iron fisted dictator he was indeed a human...a very twisted human but human none the less.

The cat being called Stalin was meant to be irony. Since the cat is so nice and friendly yet is named after a tyrantical dictator.

And just as a fun fact: Stalin loved American cowboy movies. Yes I'm serious.


	5. Autumn Fest and Christmas Time

Five months after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

The clock's hands made a distinctive tick sound as they moved slightly to show that it was now six o'clock (PM) just as Kimberly taped up yet another red bat silhouette. Along with Jane she was putting the final decorations for Thorn's birthday party.

Thorn, Jane and Alastair had helped her farther decorate her house for her birthday party, where they mostly put up moons and purple decorations. It was the best birthday party she'd ever had, sure there weren't many guests but at least the guests were true friends, unlike parties Kimberly had in the past. So Kimberly was just returning the favour.

Both the living room and kitchen of the McKnight house hold were covered with black and red streamers, banners with the caption Happy 18th Birthday!, paper bat silhouettes taped to the wall and the ceiling along with other similar decorations.

"That should be the last of the decorations girls." said Mr. McKnight as he came into the living room. "I can't thank you enough for your help setting this up."

"Well Thorn helped set up the party for me. I'm just repaying the favour." replied Kimberly. "Besides she deserves this after how she's treated both of us."

"Still I'm thankful. Sally's only ever had small birthday parties, Alastair being the only guest, so it's great to have you here." said Mr. McKnight. "I've always wanted to do something bigger than usual for her eighteenth birthday, and thanks to you two I've been able to do that."

"We didn't do that much." said Jane. "All we did was hang up decorations and stuff."

"Yes you did. You helped put up so many decorations in addition to finding and buying the decorations and much more. I could have never done it by myself, even if I had Alastair's help." said Mr. McKnight in defence of his prior statement. "Furthermore if not for Kimberly's cooking skills there wouldn't have even been a homemade cake since I still haven't got the knack of making one since June has been gone."

The mood and feel in the living room immediately darken at the mention of Thorn's deceased mother, the only sound to break the being the clock's ticking.

"So when are Thorn and Alastair meant to be back?" asked Jane, breaking the uneasy silence and the depressing mood in the room.

"In ten minutes or so, if Alastair kept to the plan." answered Kimberly, after a brief glance the clock. "It was a great idea of your's to get Alastair to take Thorn out for the day to distract her from the party preparations."

"T..thanks." said Jane somewhat timidly; whom Kimberly had noticed overly the time she'd known the blonde that she seemed to not be used to getting comments, especially about her looks as shown throughout the summer when Alastair had complimented Jane on her appearance, though she was slowly but surely coming out of her shell.

* * *

Eight Minutes later…

* * *

Jane and Kimberly, along with Thorn's farther, immediately ceased their conversation once they heard the sound of the front door being opened and subsequently Thorn and Alastair entering the house.

Then just as Thorn and Alastair entered the room the three of them exclaimed "Happy Birthday!" which startled Thorn for a brief second before she burst into one of her genuine happy smiles.

"Woah." was all Thorn said as Alastair led her the black haired girl by her hand over to the three of them, the black haired girl looking over the room as she did so.

"Like it?" asked Kimberly, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah it rocks!" answered Thorn happily. "You guys did all this?"

"It was your Dad's idea." commented Alastair.

"Thanks Daddy." said Thorn as she hugged her farther. "This is so cool!"

"You're welcome Sally." said Mr. McKnight as he hugged his daughter back. "But I'd have never been able to do this without Jane and Kimberly's help."

"And we'd never have got this done without you noticing if Alastair hadn't distracted you." added Jane, causing Alastair to smile slightly in gratitude.

"Thanks girls." thanked Thorn once she turned around after she finished hugging her farther. "And thanks Alastair."

"You're welcome." Kimberly, Jane and Alastair answered all at the same time, before everyone present in the room burst into laughter.

"Now that is done why don't we go cut the cake." said Mr. McKnight as he turned entered the kitchen, Thorn following behind him excitedly whilst Jane, Kimberly and Alastair merely smiled, each content with the fact that they had made their friend happy.

* * *

Thorn was sitting on the couch between Jane and Alastair as the three of them each ate a slice of her birthday cake. Kimberly was sitting to the right of Alastair and Mr. McKnight was sitting in an armchair opposite them, the two of them having finished their slices of cake.

"This cake is delicious." said Thorn happily as she finished off her slice.

"I'm glad it is Sally." said Mr. McKnight. "Kimberly was the one whole made it."

"Really? Thanks Kim." said Thorn just as Jane and Alastair finished their cake slices.

"You're welcome." replied Kimberly, happy to be able to give something back to Thorn after how kind and helpful she'd been to her since she arrived in Oakhaven.

"So now its gift unwrapping time?" asked Alastair.

"Yeah it is." said Thorn as she reached for a medium sized red present. "And I'm unwrapping your's first."

"I feel so honoured." replied Alastair somewhat sarcastically, yet Kimberly could see in his eyes that Alastair was happy with Thorn's comment.

Thorn then rather quickly unwrapped Alastair's present to reveal its contents. A rectangular case which took up most of the present, and as Thorn found out when she opened the case that was filled with pencil crayons, pencils and erasers of various colours. The other item in the present was a small framed picture of Alastair and Thorn sitting together on a stone bench Kimberly recognized as being one of the benches in his family's garden, his arm round Thorn's waist as each of them smiling happily.

"Aww thanks Alastair." said Thorn happily before she hugged Alastair, placing a brief kiss on his cheek as she did so.

"You're welcome Thorn." replied Alastair contently. "I knew you'd like it."

Next the green eyed girl reached for a small purple present, which Kimberly knew to be her's. Thorn quickly unwrapped it too revealed three books on various supernatural and mythological subjects and a Siouxsie and the Banshees CD.

"Cool! Thanks Kim." said Thorn, obviously pleased with the gift.

"I'm glad you like it." replied Kimberly, pleased that her friend liked her gift.

"Open mine next." prompted Jane as she passed Thorn a small green present. The black haired girl did as she was prompted, unwrapping the green present to reveal the framed picture inside it. Kimberly noted the picture was of herself, Thorn, Jane and Alastair standing in a line, each of them smiling happily.

"Nice, thanks Jane." said Thorn.

"Y..you're welcome." stuttered Jane slightly, unused to being thanked.

"Though where'd you get it?" asked Thorn curiously. "The picture I mean."

"I remember Zofia took a picture of all of us when we were round Alastair's house and I thought it would be a good gift." answered Jane. "So I asked her if I could have a copy and she gave me one."

"Well it was a great idea." said Thorn as she leant over and hugged Jane briefly, bringing out a rare happy untimid smile on Jane's usually frowning face.

* * *

Other than the trip to the beach and Thorn and Kimberly's birthdays little else had happened in the summer bar the four friends hanging out together and frequenting the forest clearing on the outskirts of Oakhaven every couple nights.

And now summer was over and they were back in school, not that Kimberly minded much as she sat in her English class, waiting for Mr Cummner to arrive.

She still got to hang out with her friends yet she also got to play music with them, or at least she did with Thorn and Jane since Alastair was, as he put it, "An appreciator not an artist." Plus Cindy and her various cheerleading cronies hadn't said anything to them thus far, then again it was only two weeks into the school year so there was plenty of time for that to change.

Her thoughts dissertated when Mr Cummner came into the class room, walking briskly over to his new intimidatingly built mahogany desk, which had been bought for the school over the summer by the generosity of Alastair's parents.

Well that and Kimberly knew for a fact Mr Cummner much like her English teacher Mr Millner was one of Alastair's father's friends, and his father was the sort of guy to play favourites.

"Morning class. Today we shall be continuing the assignment from yesterday about genotypes which was interupted by that awful timed fire drill." said Mr Cummner before he sat down behind his desk and opening up a rather thick book with some title which had the word Hitchhiker's in it.

As the rest of the class began to finish the assignment, or in the case of a couple classmates pass notes to one another or in some cases whisper with their neighbour, Kimberly merely sat there with a bored expression on her face. Unlike the rest of the class she'd taken initiative the day before and taken the assignment home where she completed it.

This semester all her classes had both Thorn and Jane in them except Biology class and Alastair was only in her English and Math class, meaning that there was no one for her to converse with.

With that thought the orange haired girl grabbed the completed assignment out of her binder before getting up and walked over to Mr Cummner's desk. Once she reached his desk she put the assignment down on it, prompting the Science teacher to look up at her in mild surprise.

"You're done already Kimberly?" Mr Cummner asked with slight surprise in his voice.

"Yeah, I took it home and finished it yesterday." answered Kimberly, before her voice became a little nervous. "Could I go to my locker and get a book to read, you know so I have something to do for the next fifty minutes of class?"

Kimberly already knew the answer. No. Mr Cummner never let people leave class until it was over, his logic being that it would encourage students to come prepared in the first place…which it seldom did. Yet Kimberly thought it was worth a shot anyways, especially since Mr Cummner and her got along well.

"Well you know I don't usually allow that Kimberly…but considering you do have a very good work ethic unlike your classmates." the Science teacher answered, raising his voice so the rest of the class could hear when he criticized their lack of work ethic. "And that you would be retrieving a piece of literature to read and not some magazine I shall allow it this once." finished Mr Cummner with a kind smile on his face as he finished.

"Thanks Mr Cummner." replied Kimberly happily before she headed for the door, thankful that she wouldn't have to spend the rest of the lesson bored.

* * *

Kimberly was nearing the hallway of the high school where her locker was located when she heard someone speak, startling her due to her recognizing the voice and the fact that the hallways had been empty and quiet thus far.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

The orange haired girl peered round the corner and sure enough she was correct as to whose voice she'd heard, Cindy's.

The odd thing was that she was pinned up against a locker by Alastair, his right hand pinning her to it by her throat.

"You know how I detest acts of force Cindy." began Alastair, his voice calm and neutral. "But sometimes acts of such a nature are needed to get a point across when all other channels of communication and negotiation have failed."

"Let me go!" said Cindy angrily as she thrashed around, obviously not paying attention to Alastair.

"Still saying that I do not believe in using acts of force towards ladies as it is quite uncivilized to do so. However you Cindy are not a lady." said Alastair, unphased by Cindy's thrashing.

"What the fuck is this for and what are you on about!" said Cindy in a mixture of confusion and frustration.

"I was getting to that if you stopped interrupting." said Alastair, his tone momentarily turning angry, startling both Cindy and Kimberly. The odd coloured eyed male never sounded angry. "You see I've tolerated your bullying of Thorn in high school purely because she ignores you and doesn't considering you worth her time, plus there was little I could do as teachers never deal with bullying. Again I tolerated your bullying of Jane and Kimberly for the same reasons…but this is their last year at this school, and I want it to be an enjoyable one. As such I shall not tolerate what you did this morning."

"Th..this morning." said Cindy with a stutter, a scared expression on her face.

"Yes Cindy I know what you did then. I've heard of how you knocked Jane into Thorn, causing both of them to fall to the ground. That's where I'm putting my foot down Cindy, even if it was only a brief fall and neither of them were hurt I won't stand for it." continued Alastair neutrally.

"It w..was an ac..acident." stuttered out Cindy quickly.

"Shut up and stop interrupting!" said Alastair angrily as he pulled the cheerleader forward and slammed her back against the locker causing her to whine in visible pain, his hand still holding her neck. "I know for a fact that wasn't an accident Cindy. I overheard you speaking to your slutty friends about it."

"Why do you even care about her anyway? Thorn's nothing but a black haired slu…" but Cindy never finished her sentence as Alastair squeezed her throat briefly, causing her to choke suddenly as he began to speak once more.

"When I first came across the sea to this country Cindy I was bullied the moment I came to school here at the age of six. You, the slags you hung out with and various other pieces of trash used to bully me because of my accent! The only one there who didn't was Thorn, and she was bullied by the rest of you for God's knows what reason!" said Alastair, his voice angry and intimidating, scaring Kimberly slightly. "You did that and yet you still wonder why I like Thorn instead of a useless, stupid, spray tanned slag like you! You call her a slut, a witch, a hag, a vampire obsessed freak yet she is none of those things. You on the other hand look like a slutty, skanky, blonde haired orangutan who dresses like something which belongs in a Red-Light district's cesspool!"

He then paused briefly, letting out a calming sigh.

"Thus from this moment onwards Cindy if you so much as say anything to Thorn…no say anything to Thorn, Jane of Kimberly I will hurt you. If you so much as poke any of them I will hurt you. If you friends say anything to them or so much as poke either of them I will hurt you. Not mentally like you usually hurt others but physically. Think the time I beat up Mike when he wouldn't stop hitting on Thorn. Replace him with you and that's what will happen to you." finished Alastair. "Got it?"

The cheerleader merely nodded her head, a terrified look in her eyes.

"Good. Now I must get to class." said Alastair as he released Cindy's from his grip before turning and walking down the hallway in the opposite direction to the corner Kimberly had been peering around, turning down a different corner shortly after.

Cindy just stood there for a few seconds, seemingly stunned and scared, before she two headed down the hallway towards the gym's doors.

Now that both of them had departed Kimberly headed over and opened her locker, both surprised and startled by how Alastair had acted. That was the first time she'd ever seen him angry and it was a pretty scary sight. Usually he was so calm and neutral, or friendly in the case of herself, Thorn and Jane.

Then again it was kinda sweet how Alastair was threatening Cindy so that Thorn, Jane and herself could have a good last year at Oakhaven High School, even if he'd threatened Cindy mostly on Thorn's behalf.

With that last thought Kimberly retrieved the book she was currently reading, The Dead Mall by Ben Ravencroft, and shut her locker before turning on her heel and heading back to class.

* * *

"Huh?" said Jane in confusion, a puzzled expression visible on her face.

"You just have to follow the formula Jane." replied Alastair patiently as the two goths were sitting next to one another and looking at a page on Jane's math textbook, whilst Kimberly sat off to the side.

The three of them were sitting on beanbags in a rather concealed area of the high school's library where they'd recently begun residing. It had been Thorn's idea, a place for them to spend their lunches somewhere quiet and more private than the cafeteria, plus it was a useful place to be if they ever needed to look something up in one of the library's many books whilst finishing homework or studying. Their fellow students had begun calling the area the Hex Corner due to Mr. Millner giving Thorn, Jane and herself the nickname the Hex Girls, which came about since the three of them were reading the parts three witches when they were having an aloud class reading of the book they were studying in his English class. Naturally the nickname had caught on among the rest of the class too.

Kimberly quite liked the nickname; it was simple and didn't mock them in any way. She thought it suited the three of them quite well, though she'd hadn't asked what Thorn and Jane thought of it yet.

"But I am!" protested Jane in frustration. "And I still keep getting the wrong answer."

"You forgot to carry the two." said Alastair after several seconds of pondering the question in the textbook.

"Oh…thanks." replied Jane somewhat sheepishly.

"You're welcome." replied Alastair neutrally, though with a small smile upon his lips. "Merely ask if you need any more help."

Kimberley couldn't help but smile. It was sweet how Alastair had more or less unofficially become Jane's math tutor, always ready to help her blonde friend with either revision or a piece of homework.

The three of them merely sat there relaxing in silence for a while focused on their own thoughts, or in Jane's case her homework, when Alastair suddenly spoke.

"The answer's four Jane." said Alastair.

"Thanks." said Jane with a smile, scribbling the answer down in her work book. "Though I was going to get the answer eventually."

"Of course you were going to. But as cute as you look when the gears in your head are speeding around trying to figure something out I think it would be better to spare you that confusion." replied Alastair calmly.

"You...you think I looked cute?" asked Jane in surprise.

"Well I wouldn't say it otherwise would I." answered Alastair with a smirk. Then rather suddenly he put his arm round both their waists, pulling both Kimberly and Jane up against him. "In fact I'd say the both of you always look cute, if not beautiful."

Kimberly could feel her face turning red as Alastair released the two of them, laughing briefly as he did so. It wasn't often he gave out such compliments, though it was often that Alastair showed a lack of respect for personal space.

"What are you laughing about?" asked Thorn in her now familiar voice as she came round the corner of one of the bookcases and approached the three of them.

"Just something which amused me." answered Alastair, his eyes ever so briefly looking downwards at Thorn's chest before quickly adverted his gaze.

"That could be any number of things." replied Thorn with a smirk as the black haired girl sat down on his lap.

"Where were you?" asked Kimberly curiously, Thorn having usually been the first to the Hex Corner.

"Mayor Corey was bringing some posters to the office to be put up around the school when he noticed me and asked me how Daddy was and stuff." answered Thorn.

"Posters?" inquired Alastair, putting an arm round Thorn petite waist as he did so.

"To advertise the Autumn Fest." explained Thorn as she laid back against his left shoulder, obviously used to her boyfriend putting his arm round her.

"What's that?" asked Jane curiously.

"It's just a small local event we have here each year." answered Thorn with an uninterested tone. "There's craft stands, trinket stands, food and drink stands, music, games and the museum is free to visit. It's mostly townspeople who attend it but we go get a few leaf peepers due to the Autumnal colour."

"That's it?" asked Kimberly in a bit of confusion, she thought it would have been more.

"It's better than Thorn makes it sound." said Alastair a bit more enthusiastically than usual. "It's quaint but fun."

* * *

There was a light breeze in the air as Kimberly leant back against a bench beside Thorn and Jane, the three of them waiting for Alastair to get back with food. Whilst her two female friends talked about various miscellaneous subjects she thought over how the Autumn Fest had been.

It was taking place in a small field next to Oakhaven and mostly consisted of small stalls for vendors selling either food or odd miscellaneous objects. She hadn't bought anything from the vendors, nothing they were selling interested her, though she nevertheless found it fun to browse their wares. There were also a couple games set up around the fait, like mini-bowling, ring toss and similar games, which were cheap to play and attempt to win a price.

The four of them tried most of the games though they were more concerned with having fun than winning a useless price, hence their bad results and scores. Though Alastair had won a small plush bat toy at one point which he had given to Thorn, which she now had sitting in her lap as she talked to Jane.

Other than the stalls and games though there was nothing else at the Autumn Fest bar an inflatable bouncy castle which Mayor Corey had managed to find the cash to rent for the weekend event, which the four of them didn't go on because they were obviously too old for such a thing.

At one point she'd spotted sight of Cindy and two of her slutty friends whilst they'd been playing the game where you throw a ball at a bottle, which all of them bar Alastair sucked at. Her two friends had noticed them as well and looked like they were going to head over to them, no doubt to make some insulting comment, when Cindy grabbed their arms and began pulling them away, no doubt due to the fact Alastair had threatened the blonde cheerleader fairly recently. Kimberly had to stifle a laugh at the sight, so that she wouldn't have to explain why Cindy avoided them and reveal that she'd basically spied on Alastair.

All in all the Autumn Fest had been far more fun than she expected it would be, Alastair had been right, it was quaint yet fun.

"You know when I asked you three to find us a place to sit to eat lunch I meant a place for me to sit too." said Alastair snapping Kimberly from her thoughts and making her come to the realization that there was indeed no more space on the bench for Alastair.

"Sorry about that." replied Kimberly a little sheepishly.

"You can just sit on the ground. It's not like you're going to die or anything." said Thorn dismissively.

"Fine." said Alastair, whom Kimberly learnt was one to not argue with Thorn. He then placed a paper plate with a hot dog on it on each of their laps before sarcastically saying. "Lunch is served."

"Thanks Alastair." said both Thorn and Kimberly at the same time, laughing briefly after doing so.

"Yeah thanks." added Jane, after taking a bite out of her hotdog.

"You're welcome." said Alastair as he sat down on the ground next to Thorn and putting his own plate down on his lap.

"So is this the last town event in Oakhaven this year?" asked Kimberly after she two had taken a bit out of her hotdog, savouring the taste.

"Well it is for now. But around Christmas Alastair's family has a Christmas party." answered Thorn, excitement in her voice at the mention of the party.

"Invitation only of course so there is no riff raff." added Alastair neutrally, having finished his hotdog. "Of course my mother will no doubt send an invite to your families, considering you two are friends of both me and my family."

"T..thanks." said Jane, a little bit of timidness in her voice.

"No problem. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to there other than Thorn for once." stated Alastair before he leant his head on Thorn's knee and looked up at her face. "No offense to you obviously."

"None taken." replied Thorn with a smile.

* * *

Nine months after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly looked out of the window of her father's car in awe as he drove down the worn and broken road to the Montyfist's home. The swamp had been turned from a dark brown and green creepy place into a majestic frozen forest with the arrival of winter. Snow and ice made all the dying or dead trees glisten and made the place look like a forgotten world, untouched by both man and animal.

"Is the road always this bumpy?" asked her farther as the car went over another pothole, causing a jolt through the car.

"Yeah it is." answered Kimberly, a little surprised the road was still bumpy despite the well packed layer of snow which covered it.

"You'd think with all the money they have they'd fix it." said her farther. "Albert's always looks well-kept after all."

"I think they like it this way." replied Kimberly after a moment's thought, remembering how Alastair's parents were a bit eccentric.

He appeared to think over reply as the rest of the car ride passed in silence, each appreciating the beauty of the white landscape as they passed the old mismatched outside wall of the house's grounds and headed through the wide opens wrought iron gates.

The car parked a bit too the right side of the centrepiece of the front of the house, the Poseidon fountain which no longer flowed due to the cold temperature, making sure to leave enough space so other cars could pass them if need be. Then its two occupants got out of it, Kimberly shivering as she did so.

"I see they have a thing for statues." commented her farther as he looked over at several of the snow covered figures, a few of which had icicles hanging off them.

"Well I did tell you that." replied Kimberly, having described the house to him several times because he'd never visited it before.

"I assumed you had exaggerated a bit." admitted her farther a little sheepishly. "But I can see you didn't, it really does look like a haunted house."

A snowed covered haunted house thought the orange haired girl as she looked up at the Montyfist's home. It still looked grimy and like it had seen better days yet there was still elegance and class emanating from it. Snow covered the decorative carvings and outside windowsills and icicles hung from any overhang in sight. The house looked almost as if it had been abandoned to the winter elements, which when combined with the lack of footprints outside in the snow made it seem as if it had indeed been vacated. The only sign of residence being light visible from a couple windows and smoke emanating from the chimneys.

"Well let's get going then." said her farther as he began walking towards the front door. "Judging by the absence of cars we're early, giving me a chance to see inside before the other guests arrive."

Kimberly laughed as she followed after her farther. "Curious to see the inside?"

"Of course!" answered her farther with a laugh of his own. "Who hasn't wanted to explore a haunted house?"

* * *

The two of them continued laughing as they made their way over to the large ornately carved front door of the house. Upon reaching it her farther raised his hand to knock on the door when it was suddenly opened by Igor, his large body towering over them in the doorway. A gust of wind blew fiercely from behind them hitting the servant straight in the face. Yet despite the cold and force of the wind hitting his face he didn't even flinch or shiver, oblivious to the elements.

"W..we're the Moss's." stuttered out her farther, obviously intimidated by the size of Igor.

"Follow me." said Igor neutrally as he turned to head further inside, Kimberly and her farther following close behind him.

The orange haired girl couldn't help but laugh when she saw the amazed look on her father's face when he saw the first room of the house. She supposed she must have looked like that when she first visited Alastair's family's home but now after visiting so many times she was used to the painting of the Garden of Eden on the ceiling, the many mounted animal heads on the walls, the beautiful wooden carvings and the portraits and framed photographs which covered the walls.

The only new thing for her was that there was tinsel round the banisters of the stairs and several pieces of furniture and that there were Christmas lights hanging from various wall fixtures, the lighting dimmer than usual to show off the lights. It felt warm, cozy and welcoming yet still grand.

Then after following Igor through part the maze of identical hallways which connected every room in the house together they finally entered a room Kimberly had seen before. The sight of it caused her to gasp in surprise and amazement.

It was a very long rectangular room with ornate mahogany panelling on all walls and a shining oak floor, which had obviously been recently polished. Several shining golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling down the length of the room. On the ceiling was a beautifully painted depiction of a battle from what Kimberly guessed to be before the 19th century, and judging by how soldiers wearing red were charging soldiers wearing blue it was no doubt one of the many battles between Great Britain and France. The most dearest of enemies as Alastair had once put it. Around the sides of the wall were various ornate wooden cabinets with glass sections in their doors, showing off plates, bowls, cutlery and glasses in a huge variety of designs and colours. On top of the cabinets were metal and stone busts of people Kimberly didn't recognize for the most part. However judging by how she recognized a bust of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd (the current glorious queen) and Queen Victoria amongst them she guessed that many of them were figures from Great Britain's past and present. There were also some waist height tables placed around the sides of the room, most of them contained plates and bowls of foods of many kinds on them.

Much like the entrance room there was various Christmas decorations dotted around the room. There was mostly tinsel but there was a couple wreaths and similar Christmas decorations at the side of the room, even a Christmas tree in one corner at the far end of the room.

To the left side of the centre of the room was Albert, Alastair's farther, dressed in his usual black suit and man wearing a ceremonial British officer's uniform whom Kimberly had never seen before. He had neat brown hair and was holding a cigar in one hand and what appeared to be a cup of tea in the other, alternating between smoking the cigar and drinking his tea.

As Igor led the two of them over to the two men Kimberly heard Albert speak.

"Speaking of hunting I just bought 40 acres of forest up in Canada. I plan to take Alastair up there to go try shoot a couple moose sometime, farther son bonding and all that. Chap was offering it for $9500 so I gave him $10000 for it. You know how I hate odd numbers." said Albert with a good natured chuckle.

Kimberly was a bit sickened at the thought of hunting; she found the whole thing cruel. Sure she knew that it was a necessary evil, it gave money which could be put towards the conservation of many species and in return gave a way to cull them when there were too many, but she still didn't like the idea of hunting for sport and trophies rather than food.

"Knowing the boy he'd try shoot a bear. Always the overachiever." joked the officer after taking a drag of his cigar, a distinct Welsh accent to his voice.

"Ah William and Kimberly, good to see you could make it." said Albert, having noticed the Kimberly and her farther, William. He then motioned to the officer. "This is my brother, General Arthur."

"A pleasure to meet you." said William, holding out his hand for Arthur to shake.

"Likewise." said Arthur as he shoke her father's hand, having freed it up by putting his cigar in his mouth. "Alastair mentioned you two earlier and how you moved here recently, nice village isn't it?"

"Yes it is. Quite calm and scenic." replied her farther.

"Of course it is. Us Britons founded this town you know, way back then." said General Arthur proudly as he took another drag of his cigar. "We've created so many great countries, cities and towns over the years."

"Like Australia." said Kimberly, feeling a little uninvolved in the conversation.

"Exactly! We started it with nothing but soldiers, cows and a bunch of convicts in a hospitable land." said the general proudly, reminding Kimberly of Alastair when talked about his homeland's achievements. "And now look at it. Where there was once untamed wilderness are fantastic cities."

"Of course we don't own it anymore Arthur." injected Albert.

"Hrm of course." said Arthur in an annoyed tone. "But we were the ones who founded its cities. We created it!"

Kimberly held back a laugh at her father's expression and demeanour; he seemed so out of place and awkward in his suit. Then again she supposed she did too. She was only wearing her usual purple dress which was hardly something to wear to a Christmas party, let alone one being held by such refined hosts in such a grand house.

"May I borrow you for a minute Kimberly?" asked a voice from behind Kimberly that she immediately recognized, Zofia's.

"Umm yeah sure." answered Kimberly after turning around, looking back at her farther briefly to see him nod at her.

"Ah Zofia this is William." said Albert upon noticing his wife.

"A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance." said Zofia in her usual neutral tone. "Albert's told me a lot about you."

"It's good to finally meet you two." replied her farther, whom Kimberly noticed appeared to be a bit dazzled by the black clad woman's beauty.

"Anyway let's leave these gentlemen be Kimberly." said Alastair's mother as she turned around and began to walk towards a side door the orange haired girl hadn't noticed earlier when she entered the ballroom, Kimberly following quickly behind her as she wondered why Zofia had requested to "borrow" her.

* * *

The door Kimberly followed Zofia through led right into a kitchen where Mowgli was busy cooking, supervising between at least twelve different dishes spread across five stoves all at once.

"Is the spiced chicken almost ready Mowgli?" asked Zofia as the two of them walked through the kitchen and Kimberly's nostrils were filled with the smells of all kinds of foods.

"Almost Mrs. Selous." answered Mowgli, turning only for a brief second to acknowledge her.

"Good, that African friend of Albert's who owns the gem mine loves it so." said Zofia without breaking her stride. "And I do want him to have his favorite food avaliable, after all he will be coming such a long way to see us."

They then exited the kitchen through a door at the far end of the room and stepped into a small room with cream coloured wallpaper. In one corner was a wash basin with a mirror above it, the outlines of each decorated with shining brass. On the left side of the basin was a vanity mirror with a mahogany desk section, on top of the desk was a large variety of makeup items, perfumes, wipes and other similar items. To the left of the door they came in through was a small mahogany dresser, with ornate brass handles for each of its drawers.

Zofia headed over the dresser and began opening and looking through the drawers, Kimberly just standing there observing.

"What's this room?" asked Kimberly, surprised such a room was connected to the kitchen of all places.

"Just a simple space for me to fix my appearance before and after meals." answered Zofia calmly. That was one thing Kimberly would never get used to, how this grandeur was considered "simple" but Alastair's and his family. No doubt they would consider her home little more than a grovel by comparison.

"Oh, that's convenient." replied Kimberly, looking over the perfumes Alastair's mother owned. Not that she could read many of the labels as most were in Eastern European languages which she couldn't understand.

"It is. I have little rooms like this all of the house. I always do like to look my best for Albert." said Zofia, neutrality in her voice. "Ah here it is." She then took out a long V-neck dark purple dress from the dresser and held it up in front of her. It was beautiful to Kimberly's eyes. "I was planning on having Alastair bring this when he came round your house the other day Kimberly, but it slipped my mind."

"That's for me." replied Kimberly, shocked by Zofia's statement. The black haired woman merely nodded in response.

"I know that not everyone can afford garments appropriate for an occasion such as this." said Zofia neutrally, before a kind smile appeared on her face and her tone changed to a motherly one. "Consider it a little Christmas gift from me."

"T..thanks." said Kimberly, gratitude clear in her voice as Zofia handed the dress to her before turning to examine herself in the vanity mirror.

"I'll leave you to put it yourself." said Zofia after she briefly adjusted the hoop earrings she was wearing in the mirror, which were not much different from Kimberly's own expect for the fact they were slightly bigber and a shiny silver instead of golden, and applied another coat of blood red lipstick to her lips. "Feel free to use the wash basin or makeup if you want."

And with that the black haired Russian exited the room with all the grace and elegance of an angelic being, leaving Kimberly to put on the dress in private.

* * *

After a few minutes Kimberly finally got into the dress Zofia had given her. It zipped up the back which had been slightly problematic to do by herself but she managed it eventually. The skirt of the dress went so low that it completely hid her legs from view yet showed the bottom of her heeled boots, was quite loose fitting and swayed a bit as she moved around. Whilst the upper part of the dress was quite tight and constricting around the hips and waist, which was mildly uncomfortable and would take getting used to. The dress also had long tight fitting sleeves which covered her arms all the way down them, stopping just above her greyish hands.

All in all she looked pretty good. Or at least Kimberly thought so as she looked at herself in the vanity mirror, admiring how the dress framed her body.

Then after applying another layer of purple lipstick and eye shadow she turned to exit the room, heading through the kitchen without so much of a nod in acknowledgement of her by Mowgli due to how the was Indian incredibly focused on cooking numerous dishes all at once and she didn't want to break his concentration.

Once she exited the kitchen and entered the ballroom, catching sight of Jane standing on the other side of the room by herself a bit awkwardly, the blonde's grandparents were talking to Albert next to one of the ballroom's many display cabinets. A light smile appeared on Jane's black and green lips in acknowledgement as Kimberly walked over to her, feeling the dark purple dress sway around her legs as she did so.

"So Zofia gave you one of these dresses too." stated Jane once Kimberly reached her, whom the orange haired girl noticed was wearing a dress which was more or less identical to her's except for its dark green colour.

"Yeah she did." replied Kimberly. "You look good in it."

"So do you." replied Jane, before frowning slightly. "I just wish it wasn't so tight around the waist."

"Me too." said Kimberly, taking note that Jane's dress did indeed look tight around her petite waist. "Obviously Zofia didn't guess our measurements too well."

"I guess…or maybe that's just the point of the dress." said Jane. Kimberly was just about to reply when another familiar voice interupted her.

"Hey Jane, Kimberly." greeted Alastair. As the two girls turned to face their odd coloured eyed friend Kimberly noticed Alastair's jaw drop as his gaze worked its way over their bodies, something he never did. "You two look…just…wow."

"Shouldn't you be saving comments like that for Thorn." teased Kimberly before she began giggling along with Jane.

"Uh...well of course." said Alastair sheepishly as he recomposed himself, the blonde and orange haired girls still giggling at their friend.

"Someone mention me?" asked Thorn as she appeared behind Alastair, Kimberly taking note of the amused twinkle in her black haired friend's eye.

"Ah Thorn it's good that you were able to…" began Alastair before not finishing his sentence after turning around to face the girl in question, his jaw dropping far, far lower than it had when he saw Kimberly and Jane. Kimberly assumed his eyes were no doubt roaming all over Thorn, and she couldn't blame her him. Thorn looked amazing.

She was wearing a pure black sleeveless V-neck hobble dress which hugged her thin body quite tightly, it made Kimberly's and Jane's dresses look loose round the waist and hips in comparison. It showed off all her curves, including those of her breasts, yet still retaining that mysterious look Kimberly was always jealous of. Peeking out ever so slightly from the bottom of the dress were Thorn's pure white feet in a pair of red and black 4 inch high heels, her toe nails visible and painted a shade of red identical to the highlights in her hair. Around her neck was a red necklace, which looked to be made of rubies, the centre piece of which was a bat with two gleaming emeralds for eyes. Her fingernails were painted red and she had her usual red and black lipstick on her lips, positioned currently in the form of a pleased smile as her boyfriend gazed, no gawked at her.

"Alastair…you're staring." said Thorn as she put her finger to her boyfriend's chin, pushing his mouth gently closed with a giggle.

"And that's bad?" questioned Alastair somewhat jokingly, still staring at Thorn's body as it was hugged tightly by her black dress.

"No it isn't bad." replied Thorn, moving her hips slightly as she spoke, causing her to smirk as Alastair shoke his head slightly in an attempt to recompose himself and focus on her face instead of the rest of her. "But it's not exactly becoming for such a public event."

"How true." said Alastair before he pulled Thorn forward into an embrace, causing her to stumble a little due to the tightness of her hobble dress around her legs. He then smiled at Thorn's startled expression kindly before saying "Should we dance instead then?"

"I've love to." replied Thorn before Alastair led the two of them out into a more central position in the room, leaving their green and purple friends behind. Which upon reaching it he put his hands on Thorn's hips and she put her arms round his neck, as the two goths began dancing to the slow beat which was currently playing from a rather simple black cassette player on the other side of the room.

"Ever feel a bit like a third wheel?" muttered Jane as she crossed her arms.

"Ah so you two were able to make it." said another voice Kimberly immediately recognized, her recognition being confirmed when she turned to face the speaker.

"Why wouldn't we Willard?" asked Kimberly, smiling at Thorn's farther in greeting.

"The weather's picked up, it's snowing like mad out there." answered Willard. "That's why Sally and I took a little longer getting here."

"Hope it doesn't prevent us from leaving later." commented Jane.

"It shouldn't as Igor's out there shovelling it away now. I swear that man can't feel the cold or any kind of weather for that matter." reassured Willard, before glancing over at his daughter dancing with Alastair. "I see Sally found Alastair quick enough."

"They certainly wasted no time getting to dancing." replied Kimberly, an amused tone to her voice.

"I was a against her wearing such a tight dress at first but she insisted upon it." said Willard, more to himself than the two girls. "Though she is an adult now and as such I suppose that it's up to her what she wishes to wear now."

"Oh yeah she is an adult now." said Jane. "I'd forgotten that."

"Kimberly is too." said Willard as Kimberly felt him tap her on the shoulder slightly. "The more sensible of the two if I may say so." Which caused the orange haired girl to smirk at the compliment.

"Thanks." replied Kimberly.

Willard then caught site of General Arthur walking by a couple feet from them, a cigar and cup of tea still in each hand.

"Arthur!" called Willard as he walked over to Alastair's relative, who turned upon hearing his named be called.

"Willard old boy! It's been too long." greeted Arthur with a large brimming smile. "How are you? How's your daughter?"

But Kimberly and Jane never heard the rest of the conversation as the two men walked further away from them.

"So what now?" asked Jane, fiddling with one of her hair ties as she spoke.

"I don't know." answered Kimberly as she glanced around the room, spotting Mowgli brining in some refreshments. "Food I guess."

"Food sounds good." said Jane, grabbing Kimberly's hand and pulling her over towards the servant.

* * *

Half an hour later…

* * *

Kimberly was now standing on the left side of the room with Jane, Thorn and Alastair, the last two of which were of course holding hands. The four of them had been talking to one another for the past twenty minutes or so and before that she'd spent around ten minutes talking to Jane whilst they ate some food they'd gotten, which had mostly been small slices of spiced chicken…or at least Kimberly hoped it was chicken, whilst Thorn and Alastair had danced together.

"So are you two free to go shopping tomorrow?" asked Thorn, aiming the question towards Jane and Kimberly.

"Yeah I will be." answered Kimberly.

"Me too." added Jane.

"Great we can do our Christmas shopping then. You know buying gifts and stuff." said Thorn happily before turning slight to face Alastair. "You'll be able to come to right?"

"Of course I would Thorn. But I must opt out of your invitation." answered Alastair.

"Opt out…why?" inquired Thorn, disappointment clear in her voice.

"I already got you three your gifts." answered Alastair, letting go of Thorn's hand to stroke her cheek lightly. "Each of you will love them. They're a set of things you three have wanted for a while."

"Of course we'll love them, they'll be from you." replied Thorn, staring deep into Alastair's odd coloured eyes whilst he stared back at her green ones.

Kimberly looked away from the couple whilst Jane twiddled her fingers awkwardly; her two friends were always losing themselves in the other's eyes, and caught sight of Alastair's parents talking to her and Thorn's fathers. Albert was laughing away happily whilst Zofia stood to his left with a hint of a smile on her face at something her farther had just said. A question she'd been wondering the answer to then popped into her mind.

"Hey Alastair, why does your mother always stand or sit on the left side of your father?" asked Kimberly curiously, feeling a little stupid due to how the question sounded.

"To put it simply my father is completely blind in his right eye, thus she's always sitting, standing, or even lying on his left side so he can see her." answered Alastair neutrally, breaking away from starring at Thorn. "The British side of my family, my father's side, has a long history of defections relating to eyes. My uncle Arthur there for instance finds it near impossible to see in low light, my uncle Richard's right eye droops and I of course have mismatched coloured eyes."

"Your eyes aren't really much of a defection though." commented Kimberly, trying to encourage Alastair a bit.

"Yeah they're cool!" said Jane with a kind smile.

"Besides I've always liked guys with blue or green eyes, and with you I get both at the same time." added Thorn as she leant over a briefly kissed Alastair's cheek.

"Th..thanks you three." said Alastair, a slight embarrassed and rare stutter on his part causing Thorn to giggle at him and Jane to smirk slightly with amusement.

"So to clarify, it'll be just us three going Christmas shopping tomorrow then?" asked Thorn of Alastair.

"Yes it'll be just you three." answered Alastair, before smirking slightly. "A girl's day out if you will."

"It sure we will." replied Thorn with a smile as Jane let out a yawn.

"Tired?" asked Kimberly, looking over at the younger girl.

"No I'm just bored." replied Jane, crossing her arms as she spoke.

"I could dance with you if you want? To mix up the talking a bit." offered Alastair surprising both Jane and Kimberly whilst Thorn looked unfazed by the offer, examining her nails.

"B...but I can't d..dance." stuttered out Jane as a brief excuse, a blush showing on her cheeks as the result of Alastair's offer.

"Doesn't matter Jane, I'll teach you how." said Alastair as he moved over and took Jane's hand in his, leading the nervous blushing blonde out into the centre of the room again where several other guests were dancing.

"Jane looks so cute." said Thorn, giggling slightlty as Alastair began showing Jane how to move her feet and where to put her arms on him.

"Yeah she does." replied Kimberly, a little confused. "But aren't you…you know bothered by Alastair dancing with another girl?"

"I'm not. He used to dance with me before we were dating, he's just being a friend to Jane." answered Thorn indifferently, before smirking at her. "No doubt he'll ask you to dance next."

Kimberly could feel herself blushing at the thought of dancing with her best, and only if you didn't count Eric, male friend as Thorn let out a brief giggle, giving her a mischievous wink as she did so.

* * *

Christmas Day…

* * *

Snow was falling outside as Kimberly sat on the couch with her farther in their living room, unwrapping present after present as they took them out from under their rather modest Christmas tree one by one. They had more than usual this tree, thanks to the friends they'd had in Oakhaven since arriving.

She'd already unwrapped Thorn's and Jane's presents. Thorn had gotten her a notebook, a bunch of pencil crayons, a black leather jacket and Ben Ravencroft's newest book, the Oakswitch Horror. The orange haired girl couldn't wait to read it since the blurb said it was set in a town based on their very own town, Oakhaven. Which made sense considering Ben was from the town himself.

Jane's gift was a dark purple and black CD and cassette combo player, a small book on werewolves and a single box mint tic tacs. Which Kimberly found quite sweet considering how Jane had little money to spend. It made her glad she had given Jane a gift the blonde would no doubt enjoy to.

But by now there were very few presents left, one of which was a fairly sizeable rectangular shape and was easily the biggest of the presents. Kimberly had checked the tag on it earlier and knew it was from Alastair, no doubt being what Igor had brought round in the late evening on Christmas Eve the night before.

"Well let's see what this big thing is." commented her farther as he reached over and picked up the present from Alastair, putting it down on her lap shortly after. The present was heavier than Kimberly thought it would be, the weight of the object inside pressing down hard on her legs. The orange haired girl then ripped open the green and red wrapping, eager to see what was inside.

She couldn't help but gasp at what the present was.

It was a black keyboard complete with the various assorted wires one would require. Kimberly ran her hands over the instrument in disbelief, pressing a couple of the keys and buttons as she did so. Which obviously made no sound since it wasn't plugged into anything.

It was amazing, she'd always wanted her own piano or keyboard but cost had always prevented her from getting one. And now she finally had one after so many years.

"Woah. Alastair must like you more than I thought Kimberly." said her farther, he too surprised and slightly stunned by the gift.

"Yeah I guess he does." said Kimberly more to herself than her farther, full of gratitude to her half British half Russian friend. "Though I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" inquired her farther curiously.

"Alastair said mine, Thorn's and Jane's present were a set of things we have wanted for a while." answered Kimberly, excitement then filling her voice. "So maybe he brought them instruments too!"

"Maybe." replied her father though the orange haired girl didn't hear him, she was too focused on her current thoughts. If Alastair had given Thorn and Jane instruments the three of them could finally do what they'd been talking about since the middle of summer, and even a bit before then.

Form a band.

 _ **Author's Note:**_ I'm quite happy with this chapter, has several scenes I'm happy with. Plus it was quite fun writing General Arthur's dialogue.

Oh Mr. Cummner is a reference to a real science teacher I had back at Ash Manor. Good guy, he could teach yet was a brillant laugh at the same time. Had good musical tastes too.


	6. I'm a Hex Girl!

_**Author's Note:**_ This is my favorite chapter thus far. Why you ask? Because it was a ton of fun to write (inspiration just kept hitting me) and has several scenes which I personally find fun to read. Plus in this chapter the girls finally 'become' the Hex Girls! So what's not to love!

* * *

Nine months after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School (Boxing Day)…

* * *

"I still can't believe he bought us them though." said Thorn as she sat on her bed. "They must have cost a ton of money."

Kimberly merely nodded in agreement as she stood in the corner of Thorn's black and red room, a few inches away from her bookcase. Her black and red haired friend had rang her, Jane and Alastair in the morning and ask the three of them to come round to her house, which Jane and the orange haired girl obviously done. Alastair hadn't arrived yet though, no doubt due to him living further away than they did.

"Yeah, especially since your guitar was obviously custom built." added Jane as she glanced at Thorn's guitar from her position by the window, it was sitting on a stand in the corner besides two amp speakers (for use with the guitar) next to Thorn's dresser. The base of the guitar was built in the shape of a bat, the bottom part of the bat was red whilst the top half was grey. The neck of the guitar was a lighter shade of grey along with the strings and knobs whilst the head/top of the guitar was the shade of red as the bottom of the bat. "All we need now is a name for our band."

"And a gimmick." added Kimberly.

"And a place to practice." added Thorn with a sigh as she lay back on her bed. "And where will we find that?"

"Alastair's house maybe." suggested Jane, looking out the window at the falling snow.

"And we'll come up a name and a gimmick as we go along." added Kimberly reassuringly.

"Alastair's parents would flip out if we practiced there. African drums and old keyboards are one thing, electric guitars and drums kits with cymbals are another." replied Thorn with another sigh.

"We'll think of some place, ok." reassured Kimberly.

"I guess." replied Thorn as she sat up again. "I need to learn to play my guitar too, but it can't be that hard to self-teach yourself. Right?"

"Right." replied Kimberly, purely guesswork on her part as she knew little to nothing about guitars.

"I have an idea for what we could call our band." said Jane after twenty or so seconds of silence.

"What?" asked Kimberly curiously, hearing what sounded like the downstairs front door being opened as she spoke.

"The Hex Girls" suggested Jane, her tone then becoming a little diva-esc. "Everyone calls us that anyway."

Thorn then leapt up from where she had been sitting on her bed, her face ecstatic.

"That's a great idea! We could have a spooky, witchy, vampirery thing going on for a gimmick too!" said Thorn happily, her voice then going down to its usual tone. "You know, since we're Eco-Goths and kind of already have that."

Kimberly was about to voice her agreement when the door to her black haired friend's bedroom opened and in stepped Alastair, who barely got to find his bearings before Thorn hurried towards him and embraced him in a hug.

"Thank you so much." said Thorn gratefully, a smile on her face as she looked up at her British boyfriend as he looked down at her.

"Thanks?…Oh for the presents! You three are very welcome." said Alastair, looking back up from Thorn and over at Jane and Kimberly. Seemingly having forgot about the presents he had got them at first. "I do hope you all like them."

"Of course we do. We've wanted instruments for ages!" replied Jane enthusiastically.

"Thanks to you we can now form a band." added Kimberly, smiling at Alastair gratefully.

"Yeah and we already have a name for It." said Thorn as she stepped back from hugging Alastair. "The Hex Girls!"

"Quite an…appropriate name." commented Alastair as he looked around the room before moving over towards Thorns dresser and leaning lightly against it. "I presume the instruments are all up to standard?"

"Of course they are." answered Thorn as she went and sat on her bed again. "You're always so meticulous when it comes to stuff like that."

"They must have cost a ton of money." commented Jane, shyness entering her voice.

"That doesn't matter, it was a necessary expense. What matters is that you three enjoy them." said Alastair. "Besides they more practical than the other expensive gifts I've given Thorn before."

As he said the word practical he pulled open one of the smaller drawers of Thorn's dresser, revealing its inside to be filled to the brim with ruby and emerald encrusted jewellery including the ruby bat necklace Thorn had been wearing at the Christmas party, causing their green eyed friend's cheeks to turn a bright shade of red.

"A..anyway." stuttered out Thorn, a little embarrassed by the display of how much jewellery Alastair had given her over the years they knew each other. "We need to find a place to practise. Have any ideas?"

"Hmmm." muttered Alastair, his expression one of thought for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Why not your basement?"

* * *

A year after Kimberly's and Jane's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly yawned as she shut the door of her locker. Calculus had been obscenely boring, not hard just boring and had made her a bit.

The orange haired girl turned to her right to see Jane putting her binder back in her locker, it was green. Everything the blonde owned appeared to be of some shade of green.

"Hey Jane have you seen Thorn or Alastair around?" asked Kimberly, her two friends having not appeared at their lockers as they usually did before they headed off to the 'Hex Corner.'

"Not since English class earlier. No doubt they're making out in some corridor somewhere." answered Jane with a shrug before slamming shut her locker door, like she always did, and turning to face her. "And it's Dusk."

"Dusk?" questioned Kimberly in confusion.

"Yeah, that's the name I'm going by now." answered Jane, a diva like tone to her voice.

"O…kay." replied Kimberly, a little surprised by the sudden name change. Then again Thorn must have decided at some point to start calling herself Thorn, which would have no doubt surprised Alastair a bit, so it was probably just something similar. Just an 'eco-goth thing she guessed.

Then again Jane had mentioned in the past that she liked dusk, as in the time of day. So it wasn't that out of left field that she'd choose to be called it.

"Anyway let's get going." said Jane…or rather Dusk as she headed off down the hallway, Kimberly following her blonde friend soon after. This new name thing was going to take a bit of getting used too.

* * *

It had taken a bit of time but eventually the three of them had managed to, per Alastair's suggestion, set up their instruments in Thorn's basement. Her farther had been supportive of the idea and even enthusiastic about it…though Kimberly suspected that was done to the fact that he stored things in the attic more than the basement. Regardless she was thankful that he allowed them to practise there and even store their instruments and assorted cables down there.

The basement in question was quite small with grey stone walls on all sides and had little in it. There were a couple cardboard boxes full of Christmas, Halloween and other seasonal decorations and objects at the side closet to the stairs and a stack old electronics and an old couch.

In the centre of the room were their instruments, Thorn's guitar along with its stand and amp speakers, Dusk's green drum kit and Kimberly's black keyboard. The faded grey carpeted floor was covered in plugs and cables around near where their instruments were creating quite the tripping hazard, as Kimberly knew all too well from when she had fallen over a couple days before.

"Hit it sisters!" said Thorn before the three of them began playing their respective instruments once more. Kimberly was a bit confused as to why Thorn had begun calling them that during their practises. They weren't related or anything like that, though she supposed they were quite close.

* * *

One practice of Earth, Wind, Fire and Air later…

* * *

Kimberly yawned as she lay back against the old couch, tired out from practicing. She'd never realised that singing and playing an instrument could take so much out of you till recently.

Next to her Jane or rather Dusk, the orange haired girl still hadn't got used to calling the blonde that yet, was trying to spin her drums sticks around in her hands. She was meeting with little success, often messing up and dropping them yet she kept trying. Which Kimberly thought was quite admirable.

Then Thorn appeared in front of them with two glasses of hot chocolate in her hands, a smile on her face.

"Hopefully these will help you get your energy back a bit." said their black haired friend as she handed each of them a cup.

"Thanks." replied Kimberly before taking a sip of the drink, savouring the warm substance as it slipped down her throat.

"Yeah thanks Thorn." chimed in Jane before eagerly drinking the warm drink.

"You're welcome." replied Thorn as she sat down between the two of them, some of her long black and red hair falling onto Kimberly's shoulder as she did so.

The three of them merely sat like that for a few moments. Thorn lying back in relaxation, Dusk quickly sipping her hot chocolate and Kimberly slowly shipping her hot chocolate.

"You know it's roughly been a year since we first met." said Thorn, breaking the silence.

"It has?" questioned Dusk, surprise in her voice.

"Yeah you two came here in March and that's the month it is now." affirmed Thorn. "Remember when we first met in the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, that almost seems like yesterday." replied Kimberly. "Time sure flies."

"You were so kind to us then." commented Dusk quietly, her old timidness returning. "Even though you and Alastair had just met us."

"Well you two were the new girls and I was just being friendly." said Thorn, her voice then getting a little quiet as she looked down at her lap. "Well that I wanted some female friends. Since you know how none of the other girls at school like me."

"They're just jealous of your looks." said Kimberly reassuringly.

"And your voice." added Dusk.

"Yeah I know. Still it's nice to have some female friends to talk about girl stuff with…since you know Alastair obviously was never that good at talking about those sorts of things with me." said Thorn happily before letting out a giggle. "He tried though at least."

"And we share common interests." added Dusk, a smile clear on her usually frowny face.

"Yeah it's nice to have people to talk to about the things I'm into." replied Kimberly. The three of them sat there in silence once more, happily reminiscing about their time together during which both Dusk and Kimberly finished off their hot chocolates.

"Do you think we'll actually ever succeed though, as a band?" asked Dusk suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Of course we will Dusk. It'll just take time…and practice. Lots and lots of practice." mussed Thorn before smilingly a little unsurely. "You two do want to go ahead with it right?"

"Yeah I do." insisted Dusk.

"How about you Kim?" asked Thorn, spinning round to face the orange haired girl.

"Sure I do. I didn't really have any plans for after high school anyway." answered Kimberly as Thorn's piercing gaze seemingly appeared to burrow into her. It was one thing she'd noticed about her black haired friend almost immediately; when she looked at someone she really looked at them. It was like she could see right in your soul.

"Great! I mean in regards to the band…not the lack of plans." said Thorn happily before quickly backtracking to correct herself. Kimberly merely smiled back at her to signal her response had been perfectly ok.

"Besides if it falls through I could still go to university." said Kimberly reassuringly. "There isn't a maximum age limit after all."

"True, but they'll be no need for that." declared Thorn as she wrapped her petite arms around their shoulders, pulling them towards her. Or at least as much as she could pull them with how weak she was. "Because the Hex Girls are going to totally succeed!"

* * *

A year and three months after Kimberly's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly tapped her foot as she waited at the front door of the McKnight's house, feeling the cool wind blow through her orange hair as she did so. It was a nice change from the scorching sun of the past two weeks which had been making her sweat like she was in hell. Unlike Thorn's and Dusk's dresses her jacket covered up more of the skin of her upper body, meaning even with the sleeves rolled up to their usual halfway position she still sweated more than they did.

The sweating sucked for all the normal reasons but also because it messed up her body makeup, making her skin shade look all mismatched between her very light natural chocolatey colour and her now usual greyish skin colour…which just looked odd when the two were combined. This also meant for the past two weeks she had to constantly have some makeup with her so she could keep fixing her body makeup whenever her sweat messed it up.

Then the purple clad girl was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening, revealing Willard McKnight behind it.

"Why hello Kimberly." greeted Mr. McKnight, his usual kind smile on his aged face.

"Hey Mr. McKnight." replied Kimberly, smiling back at Thorn's farther. "Thorn's around right?"

"Yes she is." answered the grey haired man. "Sally's down in the basement with Alastair. Today's time for another practice I presume?"

"Thanks, and yeah it is." answered Kimberly.

"Well I won't keep you then." said Mr. McKnight as he moved aside to let her into the house, closing the door before her. He then smiled at her and said "Hope it goes well." before walking down the hallway towards the backyard door.

Kimberly couldn't help but smile herself. Thorn's farther had been really supportive of the three of them, even going so far to bring them down drinks and snacks every now and then when they practised. Not to mention he let them play an electric guitar, drum kit and keyboard in his home!

Then he orange haired girl then headed down the hallway the way Mr. McKnight had gone before taking a left midway through a doorway which led into a small room with stairs leading down into the basement. The light coming from the basement acting as an indicator that Thorn and Alastair were indeed down there.

Once she walked down the steps into the basement Kimberly turned to look around for her two friends, quickly spying them on the old couch…or at least she spied Alastair and a bit of Thorn.

She could see that Alastair was definitely leaning against someone else on the couch from his position, the few noises he and the other occupant were making giving the obvious notion that they were making out. However his big and stronger form along with his long mane of hair almost completely blocked Thorn from view, especially since he looked to be pressed up quite a bit against her thin body. All which could be seen of her from the angle Kimberly was standing at was her green eyed friend's pale white left arm, the ends of her pale legs and black and red high heels.

Kimberly didn't know quite how to react to the activity she'd found the couple in when she suddenly heard Thorn speak.

"Oww Alastair! You bit my lip." said Thorn in a whiney voice.

"And? You've done that too me before." replied Alastair, his voice indifferent.

"Yeah but that was different." said Thorn with annoyance clear in her voice.

"How was that different?" asked Alastair with a tone which implied amusement, like that of a cat playing with a mouse.

"Well it…it…oh forget it!" said Thorn in a failed attempt at justifying herself, her tone still one of annoyance. Her failed rebut causing Alastair to laugh slightly.

"Exactly it wasn't different." replied Alastair, his voice confident but not cocky. "Besides you know you liked it."

Kimberly knew if she could have seen Thorn's face it would be bright red right about now.

"Yeah but…be gentler next time." requested Thorn, her tone a mixture of timidness and sultriness.

"I'll try." said Alastair before the two goths resumed making out once again, Kimberly feeling awkward at having watched the exchange.

Kimberly pondered what she should do next. She could call out to get her friends' attention, but that would imply that she'd been done there during their exchange and the fact that she'd watched the two of them make out. And that would just be one awkward conversation. Or she could head back upstairs and…yeah that was a good idea.

The orange haired girl then turned and walked back up the stairs, adeit very quietly so her friends wouldn't notice. Then she walked back down the stairs again but made sure to put more force in with each step, causing a definitive clicking sound as the heel of her boots hit the wooden stairs which Thorn and Alastair would no doubt be able to hear.

And hear it they did. As sound of Kimberly rounded the bottom of the stairs she could see that the two goths had quickly disengaged themselves from one another, Thorn repositioning her dress and Alastair quickly wiping some red and black lipstick off of his lips.

"Hi Kim!" called out Thorn, a slight reddish hew to her pale cheeks.

"Hi." replied Kimberly, before smirking slightly as she walked over to the couch. "Looks like you two were enjoying yourselves." Thorn's face immediately turned bright red whilst Alastair was unaffected by the comment.

"Well it makes sense for both of us two, it is after all only two weeks till we graduate and the summer holidays begin." replied Alastair neutrally. "And halfway through those holidays is when I shall be leaving for Moscow, to settle in a bit before eventually attending university there."

"Arghh stop reminding me." said Thorn with a pout before she looked over at the Briton.

"So your application got accepted?" inquired Kimberly as she sat down next to Thorn.

"It did." answered Alastair, before jokingly saying "Moscow State University here I come."

"I'll miss you, you know." said Kimberly. It was the truth; she was going to miss Alastair. He was friendly, dependable, helpful and just an all-round great guy whom she was glad to have as a friend.

"As shall I miss you. Though I'll make sure to write to you, to all three of you." said Alastair. His tone then changed to one of positivity, something uncommon to hear in his usually neutral voice. "Though your minds will be so preoccupied with practicing your music and by extension performance that you'll hardly notice I'm gone."

"Not just music." commented Thorn. "We're going to have to get jobs to."

"Jobs?" inquired Alastair in confusion.

"Well yeah. We need something to do instead of school, and the three of us do want to have money to spend." answered Thorn matter of factily.

"And we want to give some money to our parents, or grandparents in Dusk's case, too." added Kimberly. "So we aren't just being a financial drain."

"We are adults now you know Alastair. Jobs are something you do at that age you know." said Thorn jokingly as she poked her boyfriend in the side. "Or did you forget that Mr. My eccentric farther owns a ton of businesses and thus has no financial concerns."

Alastair merely frowned at Thorn in annoyance which caused both her and Kimberly to laugh at him.

"I understand that. I was just asking as to why you needed too." replied Alastair in annoyance at being the butt of a joke.

"I know. I'm just teasing." said Thorn with a wink.

"One of the things you excel at." muttered Alastair jokily causing Thorn to stick her tongue out at him in reply.

* * *

A year and four months after Kimberly's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

A cold wind blew through Oakhaven as the crescent moon hung high in the sky. Despite the recent summer days being boiling hot the nights had surprisingly cold, causing anyone out in them to shiver.

Unfortunately for the Hex Girls they were currently out in it. The three of them were standing on the pavement just outside of the white picket fence which surrounded Thorn's house. The black haired girl was standing in the middle in front of the gate whilst Dusk was standing to her left and Kimberly to her right.

They were waiting for Alastair to arrive. Tonight was when he was leaving to head to the airport, and thus Moscow by extension, and he had promised them that he'd stop by to say goodbye.

"Look there's lights." pointed out Dusk, snapping Kimberly out of her thoughts. Sure enough she could make out a set of headlights in the distance. The lights gradually coming closer until a sleek pure black Mercedes-Benz 540K-esc car (just google that car and imagine it with two rows of seats) pulled into view, though it was too far away and too dark for the orange haired goth to make out its occupants. Eventually it stopped in front of them and the passengers in question were revealed.

In the driver's seat was Igor, how the large muscly giant of a man managed to fit into the confined space was beyond Kimberly. Next to the servant was Alastair looking mildly neutral, his mane of hair acting as a bit of a cushion for his upper back, and behind him was his mother and farther. Albert was laying back quite happily twirling a smoking pipe (as in used for smoking, not that it's physically smoking) whilst Zofia sat next to him with her usual calm neutral expression on her face, her pure black hair and dress causing her to blend in with the car and night, causing her to look almost as if she was a ghost. Creepily appropriate considering this was the only time Kimberly had ever seen Alastair's mother outside of the grounds of his home.

Alastair's parents still confused Kimberly. Albert was so eccentric, overly enthusiastic about everything and carefree whilst Zofia was calm, near emotionless and very elegant. Bar their old fashioned taste and good manners there was barely a similarity between the two of them.

Their lack of similarities was shown one day when the three of them went round Alastair's house and were met with the sight of Zofia calmly watering a plant in the lobby whilst there was toy train track crisscrossing most of the floor. As she came over to greet them Albert came in one of the doors riding a model train on the tracks with Wellington and Nelson, two of their cats, sitting in carriages behind him. Zofia's expression had remained completely neutral as Albert waved at them as he rode the train around the room before it went up the stairs and out one of the upstairs doors, a grin on his face as he did so.

Opposites did seem to attract sometimes after all.

Then Kimberly was snapped from her thoughts by Alastair hopping out of the car, vaulting over the door instead of opening it. Almost immediately after he landed on the pavement Thorn rushed over and embraced him in a tight hug, her face looking up at his.

"I'm going to miss you so much." said all Thorn said, squeezing their odd coloured eyed friend tightly.

"As shall I." replied Alastair as he hugged Thorn back before kissing her forehead lightly. The two of them stayed like that for a few seconds before Alastair unwrapped his arms from around Thorn, the black haired girl begrudgingly following suit.

"So umm…goodbye then." said Dusk a little awkwardly before being embraced in a hug by Alastair, which judging by the blonde's startled her.

"Good bye Dusk." said Alastair just as he released her from the hug before turning to Kimberly and pulling her into a hug too. "Good bye Kimberly."

"Bye, hope university goes well." said Kimberly as Alastair released her from the hugged, feeling a little hint of heat on her cheeks.

Alastair then reached into his jacket and pulled out three small boxes, one red, one green and one purple. He then held the boxes out to them, a smile on his face.

"I got you three each a little gift to remember me by." he said to dispel their confusion. "Plus I think they'll go with theme you're going for with the whole spooky band theme."

Each of them then took a box from him, Thorn taking the red one, Dusk taking the green one and Kimberly of course taking the purple one. The orange haired girl couldn't help but stare happily at what was inside the box once she opened it. Inside it was a gold necklace with a purple gemstone with a gold rim as its centre piece. It was beautiful and so…well her.

"I thought each necklace would fit you three." commented Alastair as Kimberly held the necklace out in front of her, Thorn and Dusk doing the same and allowing the orange haired girl to see their necklaces too.

Dusk's was a simple string necklace with an X shaped block as its centre piece, which was coloured a bluish greenish shade. It certainly did fit the blonde.

The centre piece of Thorn's string necklace was, of course, a simple red bat which nicely complimenting her red and black hair.

"Thanks." all three of them said at once, causing the each of them to laugh along with Alastair.

"I'm glad you each like them." continued Alastair with a smile clear on his face as the three of them put their respective necklace on, Kimberly feeling the weight of her necklace as the cold metal pressed against her skin.

Thorn then embraced her boyfriend once again, adeit more gently this time, and leaned forward slightly. Alastair obviously got the que as he leaned forward and down too, their lips connecting soon after in a brief kiss.

"Bye." was all Thorn said once she pulled away from the kiss, a light smile on her face.

"Bye." said Alastair in reply, smiling back at her before he turned on his heel and headed back to get in his family's car, this time opening the door instead of hopping over it.

"Remember to write like you said you would" called out Thorn as the car engine started up, Kimberly noticing that Zofia was looking over at the three of them with a rare smile on her face.

"I will!" called back Alastair as the engine kicked into gear with what sounded like a pop before the car began driving once more down the road.

Kimberly waved alongside Thorn and Dusk as the car drove away, the silhouette of Alastair waving back at them getting smaller and smaller before he completely vanished from sight.

There was then complete silence other than the sound of the wind, which began to pick up and blow their hair around. Or at least there was silence before a confused Dusk asked

"Hey where'd that car of theirs come from if their house has no garage?"

* * *

Two years and four months after Kimberly's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Kimberly breathed out a sigh of relief as she stumbled down the stairs into the McKnight's cool basement. Mother Nature had seemingly decided to turn it up to eleven in regards to heat this summer. Stepping outside in the day was horrible enough but walking around out there was pure torture, it was like a desert…minus the sand, cactuses and stuff.

But to top the heat off it was giving her a headache and making her feel a bit nauseous at times, as such she certainly wasn't in the mood for singing or playing the keyboard. No matter how much Thorn may want her too.

The past year for the orange haired girl had been filled with practicing singing songs and the keyboard, hanging around Oakhaven at night with Thorn and Dusk and working at the local grocery shop during the day.

Working at the local grocery shop had been quite good really. It had helped her get to know more of Oakhaven's residents as she saw them when they came by to get their weekly groceries and the work wasn't that hard. Mr. Yates, the grocer, had been very kind too her and was the one to offer her the job in the first place when she'd gone out searching for one, though that may have been in parts because he was friends with her farther. Regardless he was getting on in age and as such was grateful for her help around the shop, be it serving customers or moving boxes of produce around the store.

Thorn had gotten a job at the flower shop, owned by Mrs. Heath the florist who had praised the green eyed girl quite a bit when Kimberly had last seen her come in to buy groceries. She said that Thorn "Seems to have a near magical skill with plants. All of them, be they tulips, cacti or roses, have been absolutely flourishing since I hired her. Odd I know since the dear does look quite vam…erm lovely yes lovely."

Her black haired friend seemed to enjoy the job since she was either watering and working with plants or serving customers…or at least she was usually serving customers. According to Eric Thorn had flirted with all his friends who had gone to their shop to get flowers for their girlfriends…or in Eric's case Dusk, who Kimberly was still convinced he had a crush even though he wouldn't ever admit to it. Though according to Eric it had been mostly teasing on Thorn's part, either winking at guys or lightly flirting with them. None of it was serious…not that that mattered to the guys around their age in Oakhaven who appeared to visit the flower shop far more often than they would ever need too.

Meanwhile Dusk had got a job at Willard the Woodworker's shop, who was another Willard and not Mr. McKnight as odd as it was since Willard wasn't exactly a common name. Dusk getting a job there Kimberly confused a bit at first; the blonde wasn't into woodworking and knew nothing about power tools. However it all made sense when she had discovered that Willard was Eric's farther, and that Eric had a job at the shop too.

However despite her new and first job the only other notable thing which had happened to her was that she'd got her ears pierced up in the nearby city, from each one now hung a gold hoop, the metal and it's colouration perfectly matching the necklace Alastair had given her the night he'd left for Moscow State University.

Alastair had kept his promise to write to them. Every month two letters had arrived at Thorn's house in the mail.

The first one was addressed to all three of them and was mostly him recounting his explorations of Moscow and how university life was, before always ending with wishing them luck with their music. Though despite containing such simple information the letters were always filled with long complicated words and written with such elegant refined cursive writing that looked like a Victorian been the one behind the pen.

The second one was only addressed to Thorn, and though neither Kimberly nor Dusk had ever read the letters she was pretty sure she knew what they were. Love letters. Backing up her theory was who Thorn had blushed whenever she read them near the two of them and was very secretive in regards to them, coming up with some flustered on the spot excuse each time when they inquired as to the letters' contents.

Naturally they'd replied to every letter and Thorn had replied to every love letter, making sure to keep their friend up to date on their current musical progress.

Her mind then snapped to reality as she reached the bottom of the stairs, catching site of Thorn and Dusk sitting on the couch at the far end of the basement.

Her black haired friend was wearing a new dress. It was black like her old ones but it had a torn-like design at the bottom which showed off the bottom of her legs slightly and had red sleeve like things, which still showed off the top of her pale arms. It also showed off way more of her chest and skin than her other dresses had and was far, far more form fitting. Her arms were now covered by a pair of red and black fingerless gloves which ended at her elbow and a red sash was fastened round her petite waist.

Alastair would no doubt have being tranced at the very sight of Thorn. Her clothes combined looks just screamed gothic, vampiric, confident and sexy. Not that Thorn had had trouble with looking like either of those things in the first place.

Though oddly as Kimberly walked over to her friends they got up and met her partway, something neither of the three had done before. They'd always wait for each of them to sit on the couch before Thorn recounted the songs and pieces they were going to practice that day.

"Hi Kim." greeted Dusk, a smile adorning her face.

"Hi to you too." replied Kimberly, a little confused as to why they had got up to approach her.

"So you know how the theme for our theme for the band is being spooky, witchy and vamparic?" began Thorn.

"Yeah, I know." said Kimberly, wanting her black haired friend to cut to the point.

"Well me and Dusk were just talking, and we think it would be better for the whole spooky witchy thing if you adopted a different name." said Thorn, her piercing green eyes staring right into her.

"What do you mean?" asked Kimberly with a bit of confusion in her voice.

"I mean like how my name is Sally yet I go by the name Thorn and Jane goes by the name Dusk." explained Thorn. "You know, an alias. Like lots of rockstars have."

"Oh I get it." said Kimberly in realization, feeling a little stupid at not getting it sooner. "So all our names will be witcher."

"Yeah that's it." replied Thorn happily, a smile on her pale face. She then cocked her head to the side slightly and asked "So what name are you going to choose?"

Kimberly thought about it for a few seconds. What name would describe her and be simple yet sound spooky. A name which would fit a witch…or even a vampire.

Then it came to her. A name which would fit her, tick all the categories and was one she wouldn't mind being called.

"Luna." answered Kimberly, feeling herself smile as she gave her answer. "Like the moon."

"It fits you." commented Dusk, speaking for the first time since the beginning.

"Yeah it's a great name for you Kim…I mean Luna." said Thorn causing the three of them to laugh. Once their laughter died down Thorn spoke again, grabbing her left arm with her right hand as she did so. "So I kinda have a favor to ask you Luna."

"What is it?" replied Luna, feeling a little invigorate and almost excited by being called by the alias she'd picked.

"Yeah what is it?" asked Dusk in confusion as she turned to look at Thorn curiously, signalling that their green eyed friend hadn't told either of them something.

"Well girls I was thinking about our band and the whole theme we have for the it. We have the spooky part down and the witchy part too. Yet we have nothing at all for the vampire bit." said Thorn.

"Yeah but she sure looks the part." whispered Dusk to Luna, causing the orange haired girl to stifle a giggle.

"So" continued Thorn, glaring at the two of them briefly "I thought we should get some fangs so we'll actually look like vampires."

"Like the fake Halloween ones." interupted Dusk.

"Yeah like them but more realistic. So if we flash them at people it'll look like they're real." said Thorn, turning to focus on Luna. "And since your Dad is a dentist…"

"You want me to get him to make us fake gangs, so they'll look realistic." interupted Luna, smiling apologetically after doing so.

"Yep." replied Thorn, obviously not annoyed at being interupted for the third time. "You'd be able to do that right?"

"Sure I can. I'll ask him later today." answered Luna. "He'll likely do it, since he's been supportive of us and our band anyway." Though he viewed it as more of a hobby than a potential career.

"Great." replied Thorn happily before turning on her high heels, her black and red hair hitting Dusk in the face as she did so prompting a glare, before beginning to head towards her guitar.

"But." said Luna as she watched the green eyed girl picked up her guitar. "He'll need us to come down to his clinic sometime so he could make a cast of our teeth. You know, so the fangs will look more natural."

"Oh…that makes." replied Thorn as she headed back over towards them, realization then dawning on her face as she did so. "Oh yeah I forget to mention that Daddy says we're invited to the town committee meeting on Thursday."

"We are?" questioned Dusk in confusion.

"Yeah we are. He didn't say why though." answered Thorn with a shrug. "Daddy just said we should get to the town hall by three on Thursday and that it was something to do with an idea he, Alastair's farther and the Mayor came up with."

"Maybe it has something to do with that construction in the field." suggested Luna as she headed over to her keyboard.

Recently one of the unused fields close to Oakhaven had had builders and vehicles appear on it. The three of them had spotted them whilst out in the woods one night, though all they'd managed to glimpse of the construction from the covered of the woods was a few wooden buildings with pills of hay next to them.

"Maybe, maybe not." replied Thorn before doing a twirl and strumming the strings of her guitar, causing it to let out a loud neow sound. "Let's just get back to playing Hex Girls!"

* * *

An hour and a half (or so) later…

* * *

"Urrgh." said Dusk as she lay down on the couch in exhaustion.

"I second that." muttered Luna as she down next to her blonde friend in near equal exhaustion.

"What's wrong you sisters?" asked Thorn as she headed over too them after putting down her guitar on its stand.

"Our powers are weak after practising for so long." answered Kimberly somewhat jokingly, her throat feeling a bit dry. "That's what."

"Yeah my voice is fucked after all that singing." added Dusk whilst Thorn bent over slightly to look at them, her black and red hair hanging around her face.

"Oh. Yeah I see what you mean." replied Thorn as she stretched her arms above her headed to emphasize her point. Her pale face turned to one of thought for a few seconds before she bursted into a smile. "I know what could get rid of that exhaustion."

What?" asked Luna.

"Just follow me and you'll see." replied Thorn with a mischievous wink before turning and heading towards the stairs, Dusk and Luna following suit after a few seconds of gathering their remaining energy.

They followed Thorn out of the basement, out of the back door of her house into the backyard and across several paving stones until they reached the shed. Thankfully the sun was on its way down and thus the temperature was far lower than it had been earlier, so the walk through the backyard wasn't as bad as it would have been.

Luna had always been a little curious for some odd reason as to what was in the shed, even though she doubted it was anything special. She put the curiosity down to the fact that she'd knew the rest of the McKnight property from her previous visits yet she'd never once seen inside the shed. Thus creating a mystery out of what was likely little more than a simple storage space.

Then again if it was storage space why was the wheelbarrow always sitting outside instead of being stored in the shed?

Once they reached the shed door Thorn just pushed it open and headed inside, surprising Luna that it was unlocked, before the two of them followed her soon after.

The shed was fairly empty on the inside. Scattered around the sides of the room were a couple of small plant pots, packs of seed (both bird food and plant) and there was a rack on one wall with a shovel, snow shovel and a couple trowels hanging from it. The main and only real notable feature of the shed was to the right of the doorway.

A wooden table was set up against the wall and had a wooden stool place next to it. Several candles, piles of what looked like herbs and roots and a bottle of blue liquid were scattered across the table's surface forming a rough semi-circular shape around a stone mortar and pestle. Set into the wall above the table were two wooden shelves, each covered with various sized plant pots, boxes and opaque bottles.

When all this was combined with how the setting sun causing the interior of the shed to be dimly lit the place looked like a witch's den.

"What's all this stuff?" asked Dusk as Thorn headed over to the table.

"Herbs, fluids, spices and stuff." answered Thorn as she reached up and look a box down from one of the shelves and began rummaging through its contents.

"Herbs?" questioned Luna suspiciously, that word brought the thought of drugs to her mind…which were things she didn't want to get involved with.

"Yeah, you know like cinnamon, peppermint, lavender, cloves, horseradish." replied Thorn as she searched through the box. "Stuff like that."

"Ok…" said Luna with relief at the lack of narcotic content clear in her voice. The orange haired girl then continued to watch as Thorn took out two bottles from the box, one containing green liquid and the other light blue liquid, before putting the box back on the shelf. She then reached over to the side and picked up one of the two of the herbs which were lying to the side and dropped them in the mortar before picking up the pestle and grinding them down to a fine power.

"So this is meant to help us." said Luna doubtfully, felling her eyebrows rise in mild disbelief.

"Yeah it is." said Thorn as uncapped the bottle of green liquid before pouring some of it into the mortar, doing the same there after with the bottle of light blue liquid.

"What's in it?" asked Dusk with tentatively curiosity as the mixture of power and liquid began to turn turquoise, letting of a few visible fumes soon after.

"Peppermint and cloves." answered Thorn as she picked up the mortar and breathed in the fumes, sighing pleasurably after doing so. "Along with some herbal mixtures I've made before to help bring out there smells."

Thorn then turned around to face them and held out the stone mortar towards them, a reassuring smile on her face.

"I assure you it's safe. It's just smooths your vocal cords." said Thorn reassuringly. "Trust me I've used it before."

Dusk then leant forward after a few seconds and breathed in some of the fumes herself, a smile adoring her pale features as she did so. The blonde let out a sigh, which sounded quite cute to Luna, as she returned to her former position.

"And?" asked Thorn, her voice clearly containing anticipation.

"It's really good." answered Dusk happily. "My throat feels better already."

"I told you it was safe." replied Thorn before motioning the mortar towards Luna. "Your turn Luna."

Luna glanced over at Dusk, still a bit unsure about the turquoise concoction that was fuming away in front of her. The blonde merely smiled reassuringly back at her. She signed to herself, what harm could it possibly do if Thorn and Dusk had breathed the fumes in without issue?

And with that she leant forward herself and breathed the fumes in, immediately being hit by the sensation of her throat easing up and her mouth becoming less dry.

"Woah." said Luna as she returning to her former straight standing position. "That worked great."

"I told you it would." replied Thorn with a wink before holding the mortar back up near her face to breathe in the fumes herself once more, a pleasure filled smile appearing on her face as she did so. Her green eyes appearing to almost light up as she breathed it in.

"So how'd you learn to make that…herbal vapour?" asked Dusk, momentarily pausing to come up with the right word.

"Oh, my Mummy taught me how to make it once." answered Thorn as she held out the mortar so the three of them could all inhale the turquoise concoction's fumes. The green eyed girl then ran her hand through her hair in a slightly embarrassed fashion. "All these pots and bottles of stuff were hers. She kind of left them and this shed to me in her will."

"So…this was a hobby of hers?" inquired Luna, carefully treading so not to potentially offend Thorn as she wasn't quite sure how to respond. Most people's mothers did not brew potion-like solutions in their backyard shed.

"It kind of was but wasn't. Wherever me or Daddy caught a cold she'd always whip a remedy to give to us yet I guess she made other things." answered Thorn. "I only ever went in here a couple times before she died so I'm not entirely sure as to what she brewed in here other than remedies. Even then it was only when she decided it was time for us to have some mother and daughter time together."

"Well she totally taught you well. This vapour is awesome!" said Dusk enthusiastically, contently breathing in more of the fumes. The three of them just stood there in near silence for a few seconds, their breathing in of the fumes the only sound.

"Hey can I tell you two a secret?" asked Thorn after a few seconds nervously, grabbing her left arm with her right hand as she did so. "One I've never told Alastair."

"Sure." replied Dusk, Luna nodding her head in silent agreement.

"Which you promise to not tell anyone?" questioned Thorn, though it came off as more of an order.

"We promise." replied Luna, curious as to what the secret could be. It must be something pretty big if Thorn hadn't told Alastair, as she told him everything "Right Dusk."

"Yeah we promise." affirmed Dusk.

"Well my mother knew how to make this stuff since she was a Wiccan…and I'm one too. 1/16th blood actually." said Thorn as two of the candles behind her went out, creepily appropriate timing. "Wicca's a religion which revolves around nature."

"So it's a pagan religion?" questioned Luna, knowing a little bit about pagans thanks to some books she'd read on religion in the Selous family's library once.

"Yeah it's kind of like that." replied Thorn. "But way more secretive. My mother mentioned that my grandmother had practised it before her, and she passed on its teachings to me." The black and red haired girl then ran her hand through her hair slightly awkwardly. "I know it sounds kinda weird and stuff but…"

"It's not weird Thorn." said Dusk, her eyes excited. "It's cool!" Thorn smiled back at the blonde gratefully.

"Thanks Dusk." replied Thorn before she turned around to put the mortar back on the table behind her, the concoction having stopped fuming whilst they'd been talking. As she relit two more candles Luna spoke.

"So why'd you never tell Alastair about you being a Wiccan?" asked Luna, a little confused as to why Thorn would keep such a secret from him.

"Well you know how Alastair is, all sciency and stuff. He's just so logical and rational, preferring the spiritual and supernatural to stay firmly in the realms of fiction." said Thorn as she turned back around to face at them. "I just worry that if I told him he'd think I was some nut." She then clutched her arm somewhat nervously again. "I don't want him to not like me…."

"I doubt Alastair would care that you're a Wiccan Thorn." said Luna reassuringly. "And even if he did he wouldn't stop liking you or being your friend."

"I guess." replied Thorn, moving her head to swish her hair slightly. "But I'd rather keep it a secret from here for now."

"Why, because secrets are more fun?" questioned Dusk somewhat jokingly.

"Exactly." replied Thorn with a wink. She then smirked. "Besides if he knew I was a Wiccan he'd probably think I'd put a spell on him."

* * *

Two years and six months after Luna's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

"Ah I remember that time Thorn. That was around when you and Alastair decided it would be a good idea to play with my model train set." reminisced Albert with a chuckle. "As I remember there were pieces of train and track everywhere when me and Zofia found you two. Since someone thought it was funny to throw trains around the room."

"Yeah, sorry about that." replied Thorn a little embarrassedly whilst Dusk and Luna laughed at her.

"It was no problem, it was all replaced soon enough. Just a minor inconvenience." said Albert. "You two were just children being children."

That was one of the more interesting stories Luna had heard so far. She was walking towards the site where there concert was going to take place with Thorn, Dusk and Albert. The latter of which seemed to be intent on embarrassing Thorn with stories of her and Alastair's childhood antics.

So much had happened over the past three months. For a start she had got her farther to make them fake fangs. Which thanks to them going to his clinic for him to make casts of their teeth were a perfect fit and looked almost as if they were real. Plus because they'd had casts done the fake fangs fitted comfortably in their mouths, though she was still getting used to them being there.

Though she was also having to get used to seeing Thorn and Dusk with fangs too. The guitarist and drummer looked exactly as if they were vampires when they smiled or spoke, their fangs glistening, sharp and looking ready to take a bite out of someone.

Then again Luna supposed her friends must have been getting used to her looking like a vampire too. Not to mention her farther and Mr. Yates were getting used to it aswell, since bar when they were sleeping the three of them kept their fake fangs firmly in their mouths. Each of them liking how the fangs made them look…and the looks they got from passers-by.

Especially when they were up in the city shopping, the startled faces of the cashiers as they noticed their fangs were priceless.

The three of them had also banded together to buy Luna a second keyboard. Luna didn't really see the point, it didn't add anything to her musical performance, but adjusted to being able to play on two keyboards at the same time anyway. Thorn had justified the purchese it by saying that her playing on two keyboards "looked cooler" and was more "alternative."

Thirdly they'd found out about Thorn's father's, Albert's and Mayor Corey's idea to revamp the Autumn Fest. The construction in the field was the building of a mock early puritan settler village, complete with the appropriate clutter, tools and various of items which would be in one. They'd planned and arranged for many members of the town to dress up as early settlers and pretend to be Puritans there over the course of the Autumn Fest. The goal of course being to bring in enough tourists that Oakhaven would be, to quote the Mayor "Put firmly back on the map as a main attraction of New England." And of course bring more money into the town by bringing local businesses much needed business.

The three of them had of course listened to this plan with little interest, it was nice to hear that they were trying to help the town but they didn't see how or why they needed to come to the meeting. Then Albert sprung his idea of them, full of enthusiasm.

He, and Mr. McKnight and Mayor Corey, wanted them to be the finale of the Autumn Fest. Alastair had apparently put in a good word about their music to him, likely when he briefly came to visit for two weeks two months ago, and the British business owner was sure that they would be the perfect act to close out the festival.

As Albert had put it "The Autumn Fest be the second week of October, Halloween won't be far away. Thus it's only natural and perfect that we have a band that is spooky and creepy, no offence intended of course, to be the finale of this ingenious idea of mine!"

Naturally the three of them had all been on board with the idea. It was a chance to get there band and music out there. They'd been even more on board with the idea when Albert had said he was going to pay for the construction of a stage for them to perform on, and that they could choose the specifications.

They, meaning Thorn, had sketched up a drawing of how exactly she wanted the stage to look. Since she was the unelected leader of the three of them it made sense for her to make the bigger decisions for their band, plus the black and red haired girl was a natural leader. But wherever the stage looked as Thorn wanted it to was about to be found out.

Luna was snapped from her thoughts as she turned the corner of the path they were walking along, entering the clearing in which the stage had been set up.

The stage's floor was simple and black, fairly basic and expected, but the rest of the stage wasn't. The backboard/drop was a dark bluish purplish colour mix with a symbol in the middle of it, which Luna immediately recognized from a sketch Thorn had done once over the past year. The symbol was a circle with the word Hex written in stylized almost web like writing. Adorning and hanging from the backdrop and the sides of the stage were large fake cobwebs. There were also stairs at the front centre and sides of the stage for access on and off.

"Woah." said Luna, after the site of the stage sunk in. She'd hadn't been expecting anything like this, not that she minded of course.

"Woah indeed." said Albert as he led the three of them over to the front of the stage. Turning around to face Thorn once they reached it. "To your specifications to Sally?"

"Yeah, it totally is." answered Thorn as she stared at the stage, her eye twitching in mild irritation. No doubt at Albert not calling her by her alias since Luna had noticed that unless it was either Thorn's farther or Alastair she didn't like people calling her Sally. "It's exactly how I imagined it."

"Perfect." replied Albert happily. He then raised and clapped his hand two times before saying "Mowgli, Igor!"

"Yes Mr. Selous." said an indian accented voice from behind them, startling the three Hex Girls and giving Albert another chuckle.

"Ah Mowgli, perfect." said Albert, peering around the servant briefly. "Where is Igor by chance?"

"The Mayor came by and asked for his help with moving some heavy things at the Puritan Village." answered Mowgli, Luna still startled by the indian's sudden appearance out of what seemed like thin air.

"A reasonable cause for absence then." replied Albert. I guess I shall have to simply step up and take Igor's place in bringing the instruments here."

"Instruments?" questioned Dusk in confusion.

"But of course. You can't practice for the finale by performing in that basement." answered Albert. "It wouldn't be proper."

"Oh…that makes sense." said Dusk in agreement.

"We'll help you. They are our instruments after all." said Thorn as she brushed a bit of her black and red hair back into place.

"The more the merrier." replied Albert with a happy grin on his face, his enthusiasm ever present.

* * *

Luna looked up at the sky as she walked along a back street of Oakhaven besides Thorn and Dusk. Her sisters were chatting about the Autumn Fest but Luna wasn't paying any attention to them, her attention was all on the beautiful full moon which was out tonight. It was bright and had a nice yellowish hue to it, almost making it look as if it were an ominous circle of cheese hanging high in the sky. She then shivered as she felt the autumn wind blow against her legs, the slits in the sides of her dress exposing them to eyes and the elements.

"Look who's staring at the moon again." taunted Thorn jokingly with a smile, snapping Luna from her thoughts.

"Pfft, better than staring at a picture of Alastair all day." rebutted Luna, remembering that just a couple days ago she'd come round Thorn's house to find her green eyed friend lying on her stomach on her bed staring day dreamingly at a photo of her boyfriend.

Thorn merely blushed profusely in response and crossed her arms in a huff whilst Dusk laughed at her.

The three gothic musicians were then silent once more as they walked down the back street, but it didn't last long as it was broken as they rounded the street corner…and almost walked right into Mayor Corey.

"Ah girls! You startled me." said the Mayor, his jovial attitude masking his surprise as he walked back a couple steps to give them space.

"That's what we do. Shock and awe." said Thorn jokingly, causing Luna to smirk.

"Well make sure to save some of that for the concert tomorrow." replied the Mayor in a friendly as he recomposed himself. "I assume practices have been going well?"

"Of course they have." answered Thorn.

"Why wouldn't they." added Luna as she put her hand on her hip.

"Good, good. The tourists are looking forward to it you know." said Mayor Corey happily. "Including Ben Ravencroft you know."

"Ben Ravencroft's here?" inquired Luna, excited by the prospect of maybe seeing her all-time favourite author.

"Sure is Kimberly. His friends too." answered the Mayor." And their dog." The round man then laughed at the mention of the dog, causing Thorn to look over at Dusk and Luna and roll her eyes. This naturally caused them both to stifle a giggle.

"Cool." replied Thorn, brushing a piece of her black and red hair back into place.

"Well I really must be going girls." said the Mayor as he sidestepped around them. "Pleasure seeing you as always though."

"Hey, why're you out so late?" asked Dusk suspiciously, causing Mayor Corey to freeze in his tracks as the three musicians turned around to look at him.

"Ah…well you know I'm a busy man girls. I..I have to check up on things you know and run some errands around town." answered the Mayor, his voice clearly indicating he had something to hide. "W..we do want tomorrow to be a good end to the Autumn Fest don't we?"

"Surely you could have done that earlier?" questioned Luna, ignoring his question. The round man wasn't exactly throwing off suspicion very well.

"Well I…I…I need to make sure the witch's ghost isn't doing any damage, you know." answered Mayor Corey, his voice full of stutters.

"Witch's ghost?" asked Thorn in confusion.

"I thought of all people you would have heard Sally. You're father's the one selling T-shirts about it after all." replied the Mayor, his jovial attitude returning.

"Well no I haven't heard about it." said Thorn, her expression one of annoyance. "We have been waking up later in the day you know, Daddy's out by that time."

"Ah well you see it's the ghost of a witch prosecuted here in our very own Oakhaven by earlier settlers!" explained the Mayor in the excited tone he used when speaking tourists who visited the town. "Maybe you'll see her tonight."

"I doubt it." replied Thorn, her voice unamused yet carrying a hint of interest in the subject.

"Yeah, there's no such thing as ghosts." added Dusk.

"Haha you never know, she may be real after all." said Mayor Corey happily before he smiled at them again. "Hope practice goes well girls."

"And we hope your errands go well too." said Thorn back.

The Mayor then smiled and nodded at them before turning around and heading back down the back street from whence they had previously came.

"So he was totally not being suspicious." said Thorn, slight sarcasm clear in her question voice as the three of them turned around and began walking towards their intended location once more.

"Yeah he was totally hiding something." replied Dusk, her fangs glinting in the moonlight.

"I wonder what he's up to." said Luna, mildly curious as to what their enterprising mayor was up to.

"It's probably nothing." said Thorn dismissively. "And if it is anything it'll probably just be something the Mayor's planned for tomorrow and wants it to be a surprise."

"I guess." replied Dusk, her tone hinting at disappointment about the subject being dropped.

The three of them then continued their walk in silence, each focused on their own thoughts. Most of which had to do with the impending concert tomorrow. They were each excited about finally performing their music at an actual concert, instead of in a basement. They were nervous about the prospect too…not that any of them were going to admit it.

Luna put her hand on her hip as they turned and headed down an alleyway in between a light blue painted wooden building and a yellowish orange brick building. It was then that she noticed to people, or rather figures at the end of the alleyway.

One appeared to be a lanky guy in his twenties with light brown shaggy hair and a couple pieces of stubble on his chin. He was wearing a green t-shirt and brown pants.

The other was clearly a dog, which appeared to be a Great Dane. Only this dog looked like the opposite of how you would want a Great Dane to look, its traits were the very opposite of how a pedigree specimen would have looked. However Luna wouldn't deny it did look a bit cute.

Both the dog and its owner appeared to be a little…fat at that moment. Or at least the two of them did before they appeared to pull their stomachs up to make the fat looked like muscle and brushed their hair back before striking a pose.

An idea then hit Luna. It was the perfect way to get this guy who looked like he was going to hit on them, why else would he try make himself look better, and his dog scram.

"Like hi girls." said the guy in that appeared to be the 'coolest' sounding voice he could manged, flashing a smile at them whilst his dog appeared to do the same.

Hi." replied Luna at the same time Thorn and Dusk did the same, each of them baring their fangs at him in a smile.

The guy's and his dog's expression of bravado immediately turned to looks of statement and fear, the guy's fat fell back down from his chest to his stomach whilst the dog's did the same. They then bolted from the end of the alleyway as fast as their legs could carry them, which was pretty damn fast, whilst the three gothic musicians laughed at them.

"Did you see their faces?" asked Thorn with an amused grin.

"Yeah they looked like they'd seen a ghost." replied Dusk with a big grin on her face.

"A witch's ghost." added Luna with a smirk.

At that the three eco-goths burst out laughing once more, each finding amusement in scarring the guy and his dog half to death, unknown to each of them that they would meet the two cowards yet again later that evening.

And unknown to them they'd very soon come to fear the words The Witch's Ghost…

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ So the next three chapters will be taking place during the Witch's Ghost! Which I'm quite excited for as that should be a ton of fun to write.

Anyway hopefully you readers liked this chapter too. I am happy with the majority of this chapter (unlike the others where there's bits I'm not happy with) and I found it quite fun to read. I'm especially happy with the bit in Thorn's shed. Hopefully there was a mysterious/secretive coven like air to that piece?

Regardless it's nice to finally get this chunk finished and uploaded after so long. Hopefully it'll all well recieved by you readers. Reviews are both welcomed and very appreciated!

Brief notes on two references here: 1. Mr. Yates and Ms. Heath are both references to the two head teachers (principals to you North Americans) of the primary school I attended as a child.

Anyway thank you for reading this first section of It's a Hex Life! Reviews are appreciated!


	7. It's the Witch's Ghost!

**_Author's Note:_** So I'm back. Here's Chapter 7, It's the Witch's Ghost! She's the one we fear the most, etc etc...am I the only one who loves that song? I am? Ok then...

Bar the first section of this chapter I wrote it all in the past five days, I was on quite the roll. It truely was a blast to write! Especially since finally the Hex Girls get to meet Mystery Inc and of course Ben Ravencroft! The best Scooby Doo villian ever! Hands down.

A brief shout out to **WildwindVampire/Doo** (the two username's he uses) the Author of the Scooby Snax blog and an admin on the ScoobyAddicts forum! He was a great help with reviewing two chunks of the first to sections here, so thanks mate!

* * *

Two years and six months after Luna's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

Once the three eco-goths had finished laughing at scaring the poor guy and his dog half to death they set off once more towards the concert site, abet now walking down the main street rather than one of the New England town's back streets. There was still a cold autumnal wind in the air causing the three of them to shiver slightly, due to the somewhat revealing nature of Thorn's dress and the slits in Dusk's and Luna's dresses.

"I wonder if that was one of the people the Mayor mentioned?" said Thorn, breaking the monotonous sound of the clicking of their three pairs of boots. "He did mention that Ben Ravencroft's friends had a dog with them."

"Could be I guess." replied Luna, not really that interested in the guitarist's line of thought. They'd scared the guy and dog, they ran off, the three of them laughed. The whole thing was over and done with as far as Luna was concerned as she glanced down at the pavement with disinterest. After all they'd likely never see the guy and his dog again, bar maybe if they came to the concert tomorrow.

"Well if that was one of Ben's friends I guess we'll see him and his dog at the concert tomorrow." said Thorn, brushing a bit of her fringe back into place as she spoke.

"Hopefully he doesn't have a heart attack at seeing us again then." added Luna. That would be the last thing they'd want at their very first concert. "Since he seemed like the sort of guy who's easily spooked."

"True sister." replied Thorn, glanced back over her shoulder at Luna. "Same for the dog. It was more chicken than Great Dane."

"I hope he doesn't freak out if he's there." said Dusk as she fiddled with her left pigtail. "He was kind of cute…" The blonde the trailed off, seemingly realised that she spoke her thoughts aloud.

"Cute Dusk?" questioned Thorn slightly teasingly. "What gotta crush on a hippy now?"

"Arghh shut up!" replied Dusk, annoyance clear in her voice.

"Come on Thorn, Dusk's right." said Luna in an attempt at backing Dusk up against Thorn's teasing. "He was a bit cute."

"Pfft barely. The dog looked better." replied Thorn with a swish of her hair as she headed down another alleyway, her two fellow eco-goths following behind her. "You two really need my taste in guys."

"So like the carny you hit on at the theme park we went to a month ago?" questioned Dusk jokingly, Luna laughing in response.

Thorn then spun around to face them, good natured annoyance on her face.

"That was so we could get a ride for free. The guy was disgusting, so grimy." retorted Thorn with a shiver. "He looked like he'd crawled out of the river."

"Maybe he had." joked Luna.

"Yeah, like the swamp person in The Dark Night of Swamp Delights." added Dusk cheerfully.

"I guess Ben Ravencroft just got the idea for the swamp person from that carny then." joked Thorn.

The three gothic musicians then all laughed as they continued down the alleyway, knowing that soon they'd reach their intended location.

* * *

The stage was just as they had left it the night before, perfectly eerie with a dose of creepy and each of their instruments stored under white cloth sheets. Luna couldn't help but smile at the site of her two keyboards illuminated in the moonlight, once she'd uncovered them. She then frowned.

A couple of the cables had fallen out of their sockets again on the second keyboard. Luna merely sighed as she knelt down to reattach the cables. The second keyboard was pretty good, especially considering that it was second hand, but it did both annoy and worry her that its cables sometimes fell out of it. Alastair had spared no expense on her first, and most beloved, keyboard. The three Eco-Goths on the other hand had skimped when buying the second.

Luna still didn't quite see why they'd gotten her a second keyboard. Sure it looked "cool" as Thorn had justified it but it was kind of redundant, even if it had been cheap to buy. There wasn't anything she could do with two that she couldn't do with one. That and the fact that she was worried about the cables falling out of her second keyboard at the concert tomorrow, that'd be disastrous. Then again she could just switch to using one keyboard mid-song and ignore the problem if it happened, after all that's what a real rockstar would do right?

Whilst the orange haired goth was plugging in cables Thorn had gone behind the stage, no doubt to fetch something from the few supplies and pieces of equipment they kept behind there, and remerged shortly after carrying a small grey box. As Luna stood up, having finished plugging in the loose cables, she noticed Thorn reading a letter to herself as she stood in the centre of the stage next to her prized red and black guitar.

Thorn smiled with a hint of a blush gracing her pale white cheeks as she read the letter and set it down after she had finished reading it. The orange haired keyboardist still wondered if the letters sent by Alastair which were addressed only to Thorn were love letters, other than Thorn appearing to be happy reading them they'd never been any confirmation.

She then noticed Dusk sneak up to where Thorn set Alastair's letter down. The blonde then winked at Luna before she began quietly reading the letter aloud so Luna could hear its contents from her position nearby. "Mr dearest Sally, you have no idea how much I've missed you and your exquisite beauty. Yes there are, as you stated in your previous letter, many other women in Moscow but they pale in comparison to you Sally. I miss your lovely black and red hair, the piercing gaze of your emerald eyes, the delicious texture of your lips, the way your black dress hugs the curves of your…"

Dusk was then interupted mid-sentence as Thorn snatched the letter out of her hands and held the letter tightly to her chest.

"Ever heard of privacy?" asked Thorn as she put her right hand on her hip, annoyance clear in her voice and stance.

The blonde drummer merely smirked back at Thorn and stuck her tongue out at her.

"Arghh whatever." replied Thorn in annoyance as she spun around again, her long hair almost hitting Dusk in the face. "Let's just get to practising."

With that the Dusk headed over to get seated at her drum kit, Luna got positioned between her two keyboards and Thorn picked up her guitar and slung its strap over her head before turning to face the back of the stage. The green eyed girl strummed the strings of her electric guitar lightly, causing an eerie guitar sound to emanate around the stage and through the nearby forest.

Then as smoke began to emanate from the sides of the stage, initiated by Thorn stepping on a small black button which wouldn't be visible from the ground below the stage, Luna and Dusk looked down at their respective instruments as they waiting for the signal to begin.

"Hit it sisters!" said Thorn as she raised her arms in the air, almost as if she was some kind of vamparic cult leader. Then as Luna placed her hands upon her keyboard and got ready to play Thorn span around and bared her fangs at the clearing where the audience would eventually be, before with a final strum of the guitarist's guitar they began their practise performance of Hex Girl.

Little did they know though, that this time there were preforming for an audience after all.

* * *

"We're gonna put a spell on all of you!" declared each of the Hex Girls in unison before they threw down their wads of blast powder, causing each of them to vanish behind a red, green and purple cloud of smoke respectively. Everything going exactly like there past rehearsals…

Except, was that…clapping and cheering Luna heard?

That was definitely the sound of clapping, she also caught a "yay" and a "bravo" or two in there aswell. Whilst Luna didn't mind what appeared to be praise it did mean one thing. Some people had intruded on their practise. She must have not noticed them due to how much she had been concentrating on preforming.

Then as the smoke cleared the gothic keyboard player could see their audience clearly, frowning in annoyance at them with her hands placed on her hips. There was a blonde haired slightly jock looking guy wearing a white jacket and blue pants. An orange haired thin young woman wearing a purple jacket and skirt, a fashion sense Luna agreed with whole heartedly. A slightly short brown haired girl wearing glasses an orange jumper and a red skirt. A tall guy with black ponytailed hair, black facial hair wearing a dark brown jacket over a black shirt and brown pants whom seemed familiar to Luna.

Finally there was a hippy looking guy with light brown shaggy hair and a couple pieces of stubble on his chin wearing a green t-shirt and brown pants and an odd looking Great Dane. The two of which Luna swore looked like the guy and dog they scared earlier.

"Thanks. What are you doing here?" asked Thorn in response to the odd looking group of people who stood before them, a slight bit of divaish annoyance in her voice.

"The concert's tomorrow." added Dusk as she leant forward to stare at them, an annoyed frown on her face as well. It was then that Luna realized why the black haired guy seemed familiar.

"Hey, wait a minute." said Luna in realization as she walked around Thorn, whom was putting down her guitar as she did so, and leant forward and motioned to the black haired guy. "Aren't you Ben Ravencroft?"

"Hahaha, why?" asked the black haired guy jokingly as he unwrapped his arms. "You're not going to bite me, are you?" Putting his hands to his heart as he said the word bite, a good natured grin on his face. Luna found it hard not to grin at his response.

"Cool." said Thorn as she jumped down from the stage and landed in front of Ben Ravencroft, somehow not falling over in her high heels. "I've always wanted to meet you." She continued as she walked closer to him, raising both her arms and pointing at him as Dusk and Luna both walked down the stage's steps and stood either side of Thorn. "You're like one of us." said Thorn as she motioned to of her bandmates, an intentionally creepy tone to her voice.

"Yeah, you understand what we're into." added Luna with a smile, her fangs becoming visible.

Dusk then turned and said something to the green shirt guy and his dog, but Luna didn't catch it. Though judging by whatever the drummer had said it sure looked like it'd creeped the two out!

"That's quite an act Ms…errr." said the blonde haired guy as he came forward a bit and stood between Ben Ravencroft and the orange sweater girl, his hand rising briefly in a wave aimed at Thorn before he trailed off, obviously not knowing her name.

"Thorn." answered Thorn with a slight smile. "This is Dusk and Luna." she continued, motioning to the two of them as she said their names. ""We're Eco-Goths."

"Eco-Goths?" questioned both the green shirt guy in confusion as did…his dog? Luna swore it just spoke. But that couldn't be right. Dogs cannot speak…right?

"And we don't need your approval." said Dusk moodily in reply as she leaned right up in their faces.

"Gee, all those explosions at the end were pretty mystifying. Eh, Velma?" said the blonde haired guy the orange sweater clad girl.

"Yeah, very mystifying." replied the girl, whom Luna presumed was now Velma. She couldn't help but frown a bit; the poor girl had a horrible taste in fashion. That sweater was just so not working for her form…

Great now she was sounding like Thorn. Critiquing another girl's fashion sense was so Thorn's thing.

"So, where are you girls from?" asked Ben Ravencroft with a friendly smile, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Oakhaven, but we won't be here for long." answered Thorn friendly, putting her hands on her curvy hips as she did so. "We're close to cutting our first CD."

Wait their first CD? Thorn had mentioned nothing about that.

"Well, it's been killer meeting you." said Thorn as she walked towards Ben, raising her hand to him.

"Same here." replied Ben Ravencroft as he shoke the black and red haired girl's hand.

"But we got to get back to our rehearsal." said Thorn as she raised her hand in a sort of wave as the three of them turned around and headed back over to the stage to practise more.

* * *

"I can't believe we just meet Ben Ravencroft!" said Dusk excitedly as they walked up the steps of the stage.

"Me neither Dusk." replied Thorn, equal levels of excitement in her voice. "And I got to shake hands with him!"

"He seemed quite nice." said Luna as she turned around upon reaching the floor of the stage, observing Ben Ravencroft and the odd group walking away from their clearing. It appeared they'd decided to split up for some reason. Ben, Velma, the green shirt guy and his dog had headed south in the direction of Oakhaven whilst the blonde haired guy and orange haired girl had headed in the direction of the back forest path. Why ever could they be doing that?

"Yeah he did, pretty good looking to." replied Thorn as she picked up her guitar and slung its strap over her head.

"He was pretty handsome, now that you mention it." said Luna in agreement as she headed over two her two keyboards. Something about how Ben Ravencroft's black pony tail and facial hair contrasted with his pale skin was quite attractive to the orange haired girl. He just had an appearance and nature which drew her to the man. She wondered if the rest of him looked that good…

"Never knew you two had a thing for older guys." joked Dusk as she sat down at her drum kit.

"Oh shut up Dusk." said Thorn as turned her head to face the drummer, her long straight her swishing in the air behind her. "I'm not the one who thought a hippy was hot you know."

"Arghh I said he was cute. Not hot or attractive. There's a difference!" said Dusk moodily as she picked up her drum sticks.

"Oh really?" replied Thorn with an amused smirk. "Why did you lean all up in his face then?"

"To emphasize what I was saying!" yelled Dusk as she threw a drum stick at Thorn, it narrowly missing her head and landing on the floor of the stage a little bit away from Luna.

"Ok, ok. Sorry." apologized Thorn, having clearly got the message that Dusk was NOT in the mood for being teased. "I'm just in a teasing mood."

"So I noticed." commented Luna as she watched Dusk walk over and pick up the renegade drum stick. "Your movements when you were singing Hex Girl seemed a lot more…seductive."

"That's what I was aiming for." said Thorn as she turned around and flashed Luna a grin, wiggling her hips as she did so. "Why? Like what you see Luna?"

Luna merely frowned back at Thorn. "You know I'm not into that Thorn."

"Aww you sure you don't want some of these curves?" replied Thorn as she leaned forward slightly giving Luna a view of the tops of her breasts, before laughing at the orange haired girl. "I'm just kidding around Luna…though if you ever want to have some fun…"

Luna merely crossed her arms and continued frowning at black and red haired girl, not amused by her comments.

"Geeze learn to take a joke Luna." said Thorn before she spun around to face Dusk. "Anyway Dusk. I certainly caught the attention of that blonde jock looking guy."

"Yeah he looked like he was in a trance at one point." added Dusk, who'd now calmed down.

"I know. I'm definitely doing those movements in future performances of Hex Girl, I mean they do fit with the lyrics after all." said justified Thorn.

"What a bare bones way of saying that you just want all the guys to have their eyes glued on you." joked Luna with a smile.

"Pfft they'll look at you two too." said Thorn dismissively.

"Anyway what did you mean when you mentioned us cutting our first CD?" asked Luna, remembering her quire from earlier.

"Oh I just made that up." answered Thorn a little sheepishly. "I wanted us to sound professional you know, not just amateurs."

Luna merely nodded in reply; Thorn's answer had made perfect sense.

"Can we get back to rehearsing now?" asked Dusk, clearly bored with the current line of conversation.

"Of course." answered Thorn. "I want to get in two more practices of Hex Girl and three of Earth, Wind, Fire and Air before we're done."

"That'll certainly be tiring." commented Luna as Thorn checked over her red fingernails.

"Yeah but we'll be far more prepared for the concert tomorrow too." said Thorn as she looked up from her fingernails. "And besides we do want to be all prepared for preforming for our first concert girls. Especially if Ben Ravencroft is going to be there."

* * *

The night air was still as Luna walked along the forest path with her bandmates, the autumnal wind which was present earlier now absent. The yellow full moon was still high in the sky shining down upon them and casting long silhouette shadows ahead of each of the girls.

"That sweater really didn't fit Velma or whatever her name was." said Thorn in reply to a previous comment by Dusk at the blonde haired guy's attire.

"Yeah but it did make her look kind of cute." defended Dusk as she brushed a bit of her blonde haired back into place.

"I guess, but it was so unflattering." replied Thorn.

"The orange haired girl's outfit was well done though." commented Luna. "It really worked for her, complimented her hair and body nicely. Though could've done with being a dark shade of purple."

"Of course you say that. Purple clothes and orange hair. Hmmm I wonder who else has that style?" asked Thorn sarcastically, causing the three of them to laugh at the comparison to Luna's own clothing.

"Ok, so maybe I'm a bit biased." said Luna with a laugh.

The three gothic musicians then walked in silence for a couple moments, dropping the finished conversation in favour of listening to the nice quite tranquillity of the night. The only sound the clicking of Thorn's high heels and Dusk's and Luna's boots as they walked along the winding asphalt path in a line, their arms at their sides with their hands slightly pointing out to the side.

"I think we're going to need to perform our ritual, girls." said Thorn as she looked over at the two of them, breaking the tranquil silence.

"Not tonight Thorn." replied Dusk, a hint of tiredness in her voice as she raised her hand to motion to her face. "My powers are weak from rehearsing."

"Mine too." agreed Luna. The three Eco-Goths then stopped walking and the two backup singers turned to look at Thorn, each putting their left hand on their waist. "How about tomorrow, just before the concert?"

Thorn then turned to look at the two of them, her right hand on her waist whilst her left arm lay at her side loosely, a mildly annoyed expression on her face.

"Never mind. I'll do it myself." replied Thorn, her voice containing a bit of attitude. "See you in the morning." The green eyed girl said as she walked forward about a metre away from the two of them, leant slightly to the side and put her arms out in front of her and wiggled her fingers at them. "Bad dreams sisters."

"Bad dreams sister Thorn." replied both Dusk and Luna in unison, doing the same pose and wiggling their fingers back at Thorn.

The three of them then laughed as they headed their separate ways, Thorn continuing down the path whilst Dusk and Luna headed back towards where they knew there was a branch in the path which was a quicker way to get to their respective homes.

Luna thought she heard the sound of two more people walking on the path behind them, the sound indicating that they would have been heading away from her and Dusk. But the orange haired Eco-Goth ignored it. It was obviously just her mind playing tricks on her, after all this was around where Alastair had jumped out from behind a bush a couple years ago, scarring the hell out of herself, Thorn and Dusk. She remembered that he had been laughing his head off at their reaction…or that he had been before he was face to face with the extremely pissed of trio of gothic musicians...

Well that and who else would be out this late at night other than the three of them? Bar Ben Ravencroft and his friends, who'd vacated the area shortly after the three of them had met them.

Then again why were Ben and his friends out so late at night? They weren't practising for any concert…

* * *

Luna yawned as she lay on her bed, staring up at her bedroom's purple ceiling. Her room was a lot less empty than it used to be.

Some posters now filled in the previously blank space on the purple walls, mostly bands liked by herself, Thorn and Dusk. There were a couple photos on her chest of drawers two, most of which depicted her with Thorn, Dusk and sometimes Alastair. She liked having the pictures around; they were good reminders of the friends she'd made since moving to Oakhaven. Best friends.

Other than that there were several pairs of black boots placed near the bedroom door. Most of them were high heeled but a couple of them were flats. The boots were more or less evenly either zip ups or lace ups, just for some nice variety.

She felt exhausted after that night's practise; she was so tired that she hadn't even bother to change out of her clothing and into some sleepwear. Thorn had decided they do two more rehearsals of Hex Girl on top of the number of rehearsals she already decided upon during practise, meaning she was far more tired than she already would have been. The orange haired girl made a mental note to always take Thorn up on future offers of preforming their ritual. The herbal vapours the guitarist mixed up in the shed always did wonders for both her vocal cords and the rest of her body.

What irritated Luna more than how exhausted she was, was that fact that she couldn't fall asleep. Just the one thing she needed right before their first ever concert tomorrow.

 _Ring ring! Ring ring!_

Luna glared at the ceiling. Just what she needed when she already couldn't get to sleep. The fucking phone ringing! Who the hell would call this late at night?

 _Ring ring! Ring ring!_

She wasn't going to answer it. Whoever the hell was calling would give up soon.

 _Ring ring! Ring ring!_

 _Ring ring! Ring ring!_

"Arghh that's it!" said Luna in annoyance to herself aloud before she headed down stairs, intent on giving whoever was calling a piece of her mind.

 _Ring ring! Ring ring!_

Once she reached the landline phone she ripped up the receiver and put it up to her head with a snap. "Who the fuck is it and why the hell are you calling so damn late!" said Luna angrily into the phone, her voice barely staying below shouting level and avoid waking up her sleeping farther.

"Umm it's Thorn." came the nervous voice of her black and red haired friend from within the phone. "Sorry about calling so late but ummm…"

"Why are you calling so late Thorn?" interupted Luna, her voice still annoyed but quitter and more calm due to the fact that it was one of her best friends who had turned out to be the one calling her.

"Umm Ben Ravencroft and Velma, you know the one of his friends who was wearing that ugly orange sweater, came round to my house. They want us to come down to the stage." answered Thorn via the phone.

"Why?" asked Luna in confusion. It was a pretty odd request.

"They didn't say." replied Thorn. "I know, I did ask after all. Since we do need to get sleep for the concert tomorrow. All they said was that its urgent."

"Oh." replied Luna, still confused and puzzled.

"Yeah I know, it's odd. But it is Ben Ravencroft who's asking." said Thorn, pausing briefly to let out a sigh. "Me and Dusk decided that we are going to head over there. Are you Luna?"

"I guess. Since you know Ben asked and all." answered Luna, before adding after she saw the late time on the nearby wall clock. "Besides I'm not getting any sleep here so I won't be missing out on any."

"Ok then. We'll meet up with you on the trail." replied Thorn, before she hung up on Luna.

The orange haired girl then stretched after putting down the receiver and headed for the door, curious as to why her favourite writer had requested the three of them to come back to their stage. Let alone why he'd make such a strange request so far into the night.

Then again maybe he was just a nocturnal person and wanted to ask some question about the concert that he didn't ask earlier? He was a horror writer after all, wouldn't be surprising if he preferred the night to the day. Plus he had seemed to enjoy their music.

Yeah it was probably something innocent like that, definitely nothing nefarious or mysterious about the writer's request…right?

* * *

The autumnal wind decided to return as Luna headed back to the stage alongside Thorn and Dusk. Not much had changed though, the full moon was still high in the sky and the night was still quiet.

Then they finally reached the clearing where the stage was, having followed the path which came out right behind the stage. It was then that Luna heard a noise she recognized, the cymbals on Dusk's drum kit and the sound of her keyboard playing. Which meant someone was playing their instruments!

As they rounded the right hand side of the stage the culprits were quickly revealed to them. The dog from earlier was tapping one of the cymbals with its tail whilst the hippy looking guy was playing the keys of her keyboard. Whilst Thorn headed over to the front of the stage where Ben Ravencroft was standing Dusk headed over towards the dog and Luna towards the hippy guy.

"Hey." hissed Dusk as she stood behind the dog with her hands on her hips. It turned round quickly with a sheepish looking expression on its face.

"Rorry." said the dog as it handed Dusk's drum sticks to her before zipping off to hide under the second of Luna's keyboards, which was still covered by a white sheet.

"Like why'd you stop old buddy?" asked the green shirt clad guy as he continued playing Luna's keyboard, obvious to her standing behind him with an annoyed expression on her face and her hands on her hips.

Or at least he was obvious before he stopped playing before he appeared to realise someone was behind him. He turned his neck round to come face to face with the orange haired keyboardist, a slightly worried sheepish expression on his face.

"No one touches my keyboard." said Luna in annoyance, poking the guy in the back twice as she did so. He then laughed sheepishly before jumping down and hiding under the sheet with the dog. She merely glanced down at them in disapproval, hearing their sheepish laughs.

She and Dusk then headed over to the front of the stage where Ben Ravencroft and Thorn were standing, just as Velma approached the group of them.

"Thanks for coming girls." said Velma in both a way of giving thanks and giving a greeting.

"We should all be home resting for the concert tomorrow." replied Thorn, an annoyed expression on her face. "We only came because Ben asked us to." She continued, turning to motion to the writer in question as she did so as both Dusk and Luna turned to look at him.

"Hey I'm just following orders." said Ben Ravencroft in his defence as he raised his hand to his chest, seemingly ever so slightly intimidated by their annoyed gazes.

"Well, what'd you want?" asked Luna as she three of them turned back to look at the orange clad girl.

Just as she finished speaking a strong wind picked up, each of them bracing themselves against it as it blew their hair back and sent leaves and other plant matter flying at them. Then all of a sudden a green coloured witch flew out from behind the trees at the other side of the clearing, letting out a horrible cackle as she hovered above the trees and wit her arms raised in the air.

It then dawned on Luna; this must have been the Witch's Ghost the Mayor had been talking about…crap.

The witch then continued to cackle as she flew towards them at a fast speed, throwing a fireball at them as she did so causing everyone to flee the stage. Thorn and Luna both let out a shriek as they did so at the bang the fireball made when it hit the stage.

The dog, green shirt guy in Velma ran north and Ben Ravencroft ran north east whilst Thorn, Dusk and Luna ran west into the forest. However the three Eco-Goths soon stopped running when they realised that the witch was not causing them, it didn't even glance in their direction. Instead it had gone after the others, which was odd.

They then heard it shriek out "This town must pay for its fowl deed!" in the distance, indicating that they were indeed safe from it.

"What was that?" asked Thorn in between pants, the eerie cackle of the witch and the bang of one of its fireballs audible in the distance.

"It's obviously that Witch's Ghost the Mayor mentioned." replied Luna in between pants of her own, tired out by how fast she'd been running.

"Well we're safe now." said Dusk, the run seemingly having not phased or tired her out at all. "It went after the others." Just as she said that there was another bang in the distance, indicating that the blonde was indeed corrected.

Thorn then began walking off to the north without explanation.

"Where are you going Thorn?" asked Luna in confusion. "The ghost has left us alone."

"Yeah but we should go after the others." answered Thorn, her caring nature showing. "We can't just abandon them."

"Fine." replied Dusk, her voice turning to a slight hiss. "But when the ghost gets us it's all your fault."

* * *

As they headed through the forest in the direction of where they'd seen the dog, green shirt clad guy and Velma run the three girls heard a loud metallic clunk, a sound synonymous with something colliding with something metal. At the same time the cackles of the witch and her fireballs eerily ceased.

They then saw a big orange bush up ahead rustle, and not because of the wind. Dusk and Luna stepped back slight behind Thorn, both subconsciously seeking the protection of their 'leader'. Each of their thoughts, though not that they would ever admit it to one another, immediately turned to fearful images. All the horror movies they'd stayed up late watching together coming back to haunt them.

However their fear ceased when the figure stepped forward out of the bushes, revealing itself to be none other than Ben Ravencroft.

"Ah girls, good to see you're all ok." said the writer with a smile which immediately erase all thoughts of fear from their minds.

"Glad to see you here too Ben." replied Thorn, smiling back and winking at him. Dusk and Luna then stepped out from behind Thorn again, each feeling a bit sheepish for cowering so easily.

"Yes umm…well we better go find the others then." said Ben Ravencroft a little awkwardly quickly before he turned and headed off to the right. Luna swore she saw a slight blush of red on the writer's cheeks before he'd turned. Not that it would surprise her; Thorn seemed to have that effect on all guys regardless of their age.

They then headed after the author, following him through the dark autumnal forest lit only by the occasional moonbeam that pierced the thick canopy of trees.

* * *

The four of them found a woodland path shortly after, and followed it in the direction of where the others had ran. Shortly afterwards they came across Ben's friends, this time the orange haired girl and blonde haired guy were with them, gathered round what appeared to be the Witch's Ghost stuck in a soccer (and since this is set in America, I'll begrudgingly use that terminology for it) net made out of metal. Luna guessed the ghost colliding with the net must have been the metallic clunk they'd heard earlier.

The purple clad Eco-Goth couldn't make out what the group was saying, though she did see them pull the head off the witch revealing that it was just a mask and that the ghost was fake. Luna couldn't see who the culprit was though as she couldn't see their face. Though she could see the that they had rather familiar grey hair.

Then as they got closer she could make at what the group was saying.

"Like it's the T-Shirt guy!" said the green shirt guy, clearly surprised by the culprit and confusing Luna. Who the hell was the "T-Shirt guy"?

"Mr. McKnight, the pharmacist?" declared the purple clad girl Luna had seen earlier, seemingly shocked.

As they approached the group Thorn put her right hand to her chest in a mixture of both shock and concerned.

"Daddy?" questioned Thorn as she knelt down next to her farther, obviously checking if he was ok.

"Hello Sally." replied her farther, giving her a sheepish grin as he lay there against the metal soccer net.

"Your Dad's the ghost?" questioned Luna in surprise as she pointed over at the familiar pharmacist Thorn stood back up, whilst Dusk just raised an eyebrow at the guitarist.

"Your name is Sally?" questioned Fred in surprise as he pointed at Thorn, earning a justified glare in reply from the black and red haired girl.

What a rude thing to ask and inappropriate at that moment. Luna couldn't help but see the guy must be the slightly dimmer member of the group, after all Thorn's real name name obviously wasn't going to be Thorn.

"I don't believe this daddy." said Thorn as she leant forward and put her arms out to the sides to emphasise her point as her farther stood up and looked at the ground shamefully. "Why would you do something like this?"

Her farther didn't reply, he just kept looking at the ground shamefully.

"You mean you didn't know?" asked the purple clad young woman as she pointed over at Thorn, her expression inquisitive.

The black and red haired girl merely shoke her head in reply.

"The girls have nothing to do with this." said Mr. McKnight quickly as he looked up and over and the young woman, waving his hand slightly as he did so. Luna couldn't help but smile slightly at how quick he'd rushed to defend both his daughter and them from the accusation of the other purple clad girl, whom was still eyeing Thorn's farther distrustfully. He had always been caring and friendly towards her and Dusk ever since they'd met shortly after they both moved to Oakhaven...way back when they first entertained the idea of forming a band together.

Wait! That's why the ghost didn't go after them! Because it had been Mr McKnight all along and he obviously didn't want to hurt or scare them any more than he already had...maybe that's why he looked so shameful.

"What in the world is going on this evening?" declared Mayor Corey as he walked out from down the woodland path; Thorn's farther lowering his head shamefully as the Mayor did so. He then gasped as he approached Mr. McKnight. "Is that you McKnight?" he questioned, the pharmacist looking away shamefully again as the Mayor spoke.

"Maybe I can explain." said Velma as she stepped forward. "I found flash powder residue where Shag and Scoob saw the ghost." she then raised Mr. McKnight's arm and pulled down his sleeve slightly, revealing a small device strapped to his arm. "This is a device to throw the fireballs, which are just wads of flash paper. He got it from his daughter's stage props." explained Velma.

Luna noticed that the dog then was looking curiously at the device, mainly at a red button planted in the centre of it. Then just as Velma finished talking the dog raised its paw and pushed the button, which caused a 'fireball' to shoot from the device and the dog to reel back in surprise.

The 'fireball' shot over the trees and landed in a small clearing on the other side of the treeline, illuminating a red vehicle of some kind with a lift and fan attached on it.

"Like, what's that?" inquired the green shirt guy curiously.

"It's the cherry picker that made the ghost fly above the trees with the use of an extension device. And there is the fan that created the eerie wind." explained Velma. "It took more than one person to pull of this scam." continued the orange clad girl as she lead them over closer to the treeline, clearly enjoying herself as she motioned to a nearby tree with a flashlight and said "Isn't that right, Jack?

"D-ohh." said the aforementioned restaurant owner and cook as he stepped out from behind the tree, shielding his eyes from the bright light of the torch with his left hand.

"Zoinks." said the green shirt guy in surprise at the reveal whilst Luna just gave Jack a look of disapproval as did Dusk and Thorn, each of their right hands on their hips in unison. They never expected the cheerful restaurant owner to be in on a thing like this.

"It would take someone pretty strong to hoist Mr. McKnight around." said Velma, as an explanation as to why Jack was there.

"Like, you should have been making pot roast instead of cooking up trouble." said the green shirt guy as he waggled his finger at Jack.

"That goes for all of you." said Velma as she turned her torch face the bushes and trees to the side of Jack.

"All of you?" asked Ben Ravencroft in surprise as he walked over and stood in-between Velma and Thorn.

"Sure, there had to be more people involved to make this hoax work." explained Velma as Willard the carpenter and Molly the clothes maker stepped out from behind two other trees.

"Well I, for one, am totally shocked by this deception!" declared Mayor Corey as he walked forward towards them, his big round belly puffed out and his arms raising in emphasis.

"You can stop the charade now Mayor." said Velma as she walked over and stood beside him, a frowning Ben Ravencroft following her. "Because you're the one who made me suspicious from the beginning." declared the orange clad girl as she pointed at the Mayor.

"I..I.." said the Mayor, unable to find the words to deny the accusation as he looked down at the short girl.

"I'm very disappointed in you Mayor." said Ben Ravencroft with a clearly annoyed expression on his face. "And all of you." he continued as she looked over at Jack, Willard and Molly. "For lining your pockets by dragging Sarah Ravencroft's name through the mud."

The dog then made what sounded to Luna like a tutting sound as the three local business owners/town council members looked down at the ground shamefully.

Ben Ravencroft then turned and walked off out of the clearing, obviously annoyed at what had taken place and the . Thorn merely glanced over at her farther and gave him a brief wave and smile before she hurried after the writer. Dusk and Luna following suit a couple seconds after.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ And that's chapter 7! I hope you all enjoyed reading it, and that it was well worth the wait!

I think this chapter came out quite well myself, I'm actually suprised since I was worried it'd just end up being a boring retelling of those scenes from the movie. But the addition of Luna's thoughts, descriptions of the 'enviroments' and descriptions of everyone's movements really made it into a good piece in my opinion.

Quite like my little addition of why the fake Witch's Ghost chased Scooby, Shaggy and Velma instead of the Hex Girls myself. It a sensible explanation, not wanting to scare his daughter and her friends more than he had to. Or risk injuring them.

Oh and there's going to be a bit of backstory for Ben Ravencroft next chapter at his house, along with the Hex Girls finally learning all the names of Mystery Inc. You have no idea how annoying it was writng green shirt guy, purple clad young woman (and having to make sure I'd diffirenciated Daphne from Luna, after all they both have similar coloured hair and clothing). and blonde guy every time Shaggy or Fred spoke! But I had to do that, after all at that point they had never heard their names yet in the scene where they met them in the movie.

That part will also include some backstory about and Mayor Corey too. Like why Thorn's daddy was so good at 'playing' the Witch's Ghost...


	8. Feel a Cold Chill, Running Down my Spine

Two years and six months after Luna's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

The three Hex Girls walked through the bushes in single file, Thorn leading with Dusk in the middle and Luna in the rear, searching for where Ben Ravencroft had gone off too which thankfully didn't take too long to stumble across him, finding the writer in a clearing staring up ever so slightly at the full moon.

As the three of them stepped silently into the clearing they fanned out into a line, Thorn in the middle with Dusk and Luna standing either side of her. Luna thought that the writer looked a little creepy with how the moon shined down on him as he stood alone…then again the three of them probably looked creepy too with how they were dressed and looked at this time of night.

"You ok?" asked Thorn, clearly startling the writer as he shook a little at the sudden noise.

"Of course, of course." answered Ben Ravencroft friendlily. "I'm just thinking about that whole witch's ghost nonsense."

"You're not annoyed?" asked Luna in confusion, brought on by the sudden change from the writer's mood the last time they had seen him.

"Well I am a bit, considering they did incorrectly impersonate my ancestor for financial gain." replied Ben Ravencroft, before chuckling briefly. "But I thought about it and I can't blame them really."

"Huh?" said Dusk, obviously confused too.

"My apologizes Dusk. I should have elaborated." replied the writer with a brief nod in the drummer's direction. "I know for a fact that Oakhaven isn't doing too good financially in recent years, given the fact that tourism has gone down quite a bit severely effecting local businesses. I assume you know, considering you are locals, that the Selous Family has been donating money to local businesses just to keep them afloat?"

"Yeah we know." replied Thorn as she put her hand on her waist, obviously wanting Ben to get to the point.

"It's been mentioned a few times." added Luna.

"Well a couple weeks about the Mayor called me for a chat, since we're old friends and he wanted to tell me all about his and Albert Selous's plans for this year's Autumn Fest." explained Ben Ravencroft. "However he mentioned they needed a secondary pull factor other than the Puritan Village, and your concert taking place on the last day." Luna couldn't help but smile at the fact their concert was mentioned as a pull factor. "And I told him that the supernatural always attracts people and that they could say there was a ghost haunting the town to attract more people to the Autumn Fest."

"So it's your fault then." said Thorn with a frown. "Partially."

"Exactly!" replied the writer with a hearty chuckle. "Thus whilst I'm annoyed I can't be too annoyed or angry, as I gave them the idea in the first place!"

"Though they took it to a whole different level." said Dusk, fiddling with her left pigtail as she did so.

"They certainly did. I would have never expected them to go so far to have McKnight pretend to be the ghost of my ancestor!" replied Ben, appearing to be in a surprisingly jolly mood now as he chuckled again. "But I should have expected it."

"How come?" asked Thorn in confusion.

"You of all people should know why Thorn." replied Ben Ravencroft with a smile.

"I should?" said the black and red haired girl in more confusion.

"You should. After all your farther has always been into the theatrics. I remember way back when I was at Oakhaven high school with him and the Mayor, of course he wasn't the Mayor then, McKnight was always excited about drama class." answered the writer with yet another chuckle. "He played all roles with endless enthusiasm. Be it a werewolf, ghoul, witch, shopkeeper, policeman, thief or knight his acting was always top notch."

"So that's why he was the one to pretend to be the witch's ghost." said Dusk in understanding.

"Exactly." replied Ben Ravencroft with a smile. "Wouldn't surprise me if he was the one to come up with all the ideas for the special effects too, considering that he has an interest in how that kind of stuff is done."

Thorn then crossed her arms and frowned.

"He also stole that smoke bomb launcher from me." said Thorn in annoyance with a flick of her long hair.

"Ah umm…yes he did." replied Ben Ravencroft, seemingly not knowing what to say in response to the obviously quite annoyed young black and red haired guitar player. "But I'm sure he meant no harm. After all he didn't chase you three whilst he was dressed as the witch's ghost now did he?"

"True." replied Thorn, smiling at the thought. "He did avoid going after us."

"Speaking of which Thorn I…" began Ben Ravencroft before being interupted by that group of people and their dog who had been with him earlier emerged from the bushes surrounding the clearing. The writer then smiled at then and laughed before speaking. "Ah you caught up with me I see."

"Yeah, we were just talking things out with the Mayor." replied Fred.

"You ok Ben?" asked Velma, whom Luna noticed appeared to show an unusable amount of care towards the author.

"Of course, I thought for a bit and I've got over what happened." answered Ben Ravencroft with a kind smile towards the short orange clad girl. "I'd give you the explanation as to why, but I just told it to the girls here and I don't want to bore the three of them again."

"We don't mind." said Luna, causing the writer to look over and smile at her in response.

"No no, I can give the explanation later." replied Ben Ravencroft with a shake of his head. He then looked up at the moon, high in the sky and yellow like a wheel of cheese. "After all it is getting late." He then shivered as a cold wind blew through the clearing, rustling the orange, red and brown leaves which coated the ground. "Speaking of which why don't you all come visit my house. Have a snack and warm up a bit."

"Sure Ben." said Velma, before quickly turning to face her friends and their dog. "Right gang?"

"Why not? It'll be good to get out of this cold air." replied the purple clad girl who had been quite inquisitional earlier.

"We'd love to." said Thorn with a smile, before continuing. "But we should really get back to resting for the concert tomorrow."

"True but I insist you three come, my treat." replied Ben Ravencroft, reassuring insistence in his tone. "You'll only be there a little while, plus my house is on the route back from here anyway."

"I suppose we could." said Thorn before she turned to face the two of them, her red and black hair swishing behind her as she did so. "Well should we girls?"

"Sure." answered Dusk with a shrug.

"Why not?" answered Luna. "I wasn't able to fall get to sleep anyway."

"Fantastic." replied the writer with a clap of his hands. "Let's get going then! The quicker we get to my house the quicker we get out of this cold."

All of them then began to head out of the clearing and back towards the woodland path, Ben Ravencroft leading the way.

"I don't believe we ever introduced ourselves." said the blonde haired guy as he looked over at Thorn as they walked along the path. "I'm Fred."

"I'm Daphne." said the purple clad young woman as she walked next to Fred.

"I'm Velma." said Velma. "Sorry we didn't introduce ourselves to you when we met earlier."

"I'm Shaggy." said the green shirt guy, giving them a friendly smile before motioning to the brown dog. "And this is Scooby Doo."

"Rello." said the dog happily, or at least Luna was pretty sure it had spoken though that may just have been the lack of sleep setting in.

"Nice to meet you all properly." replied Thorn with a smile, Dusk and Luna following suit.

"Sorry for suspecting you earlier." said Daphne apologetically. "It's just that we suspected you may be involved because you're…well you're…" the orange haired girl trailed off at that point, obviously not wanting to offend them.

"Spooky?" replied Luna.

"Creepy?" hissed Dusk.

"Vampiric?" added Thorn as she bared her fake fangs at them, noticeably causing Shaggy and Scooby Doo to quiver.

"Umm, well yeah." said Daphne with a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." said Thorn with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"It's good. Shows that the gimmick we're going for is working." added Luna as she smiled over at Daphne, wanting to reassure the girl that she wasn't bothered by the previous suspicion.

"So how long have you three been a band for?" asked Fred curiously, whom Luna noticed appeared to be showing quite a bit of interest in Thorn. Not that Luna was surprised in the least.

"Oh a year or so, I think." answered Thorn, turning to give Fred a fanged smile.

Luna couldn't help but notice that the black and red haired girl's action caused Daphne to look a bit annoyed. She smirked, looked like someone has a crush on a certain blonde haired guy.

* * *

Ben Ravencroft's house's interior looked quite liked Luna had guessed it would, from the times when she'd walked passed it in the past. The walls were shades of yellow, white and red depending on the room and it was decorated with old looking furniture. Antiques of various kinds adorned the rooms along with the occasional picture or two.

Or at least that's how it looked so far from what Luna had seen. The keyboard player was currently sitting on a rather combatable beige couch in between Thorn and Dusk in the living room of the house. The walls in here were a dull shade of yellow and bar the two couches and singular arm chair with a coffee table in the centre of them there was little in the room. A CTR TV was over by the window on a table stand and a painted picture of a mountain range adorned one of the walls.

All in all it was quite a simple room, but Luna liked it that way.

Fred, Velma and Daphne were sitting on the other couch and Shaggy and Scooby Doo were with Ben getting refreshments. There was an awkward silence in the room, no one knowing quite what to say. That is there was an awkward silence before Thorn broke it.

"So do you do stuff like that often?" asked Thorn, earning a confused response from Daphne.

"What do you mean?" replied Daphne in confusion.

"The whole tracking down and unmasking a fake ghost." elaborated Thorn, before continuing with a smile. "You just seemed pretty experienced with catching my Daddy and giving an explanation for the whole thing."

"Oh ghost hunting is our specialty." replied Velma with a happy smile. "We've done that plenty of times."

"Really?" asked Luna, intrigued by the current topic.

"Sure have. They've ranged from ghost divers, ghost pirates, vampires, aliens, werewolves, ghost clowns, phantoms, witch doctors, tikis, crocodile monsters, goo monsters, mummies, zombies, witches…you get the gist." answered Fred quite proudly. "Each one caught and unmasked as some crook."

"Most of those were in the past though when we were younger, we got bored of it eventually." explained Daphne. "But we're trying to get back into it again now."

"Yep so far we've unmasked a gargoyle, lobsterman, phantom, zombie ferryman and of course the witch's ghost." added Fred happily.

"So they're always fake?" asked Thorn, seemingly a bit disappointed.

"Sure have been." answered Velma. "The ghost or ghoul is always a fake and there is always a rational explanation to the special effects they used to make them appear to be real."

"Well bar the zombies are Moonsc…" began Daphne before quickly saying. "Nope they were fake too."

"Oh." replied Thorn. "That's a bit disappointing."

"That's why we stopped. It got a bit monotonous when we always knew it was just some guy in a mask." said Daphne.

"Well that and Shaggy and Scooby's nerves needed a bit of a break." said Fred with a chuckle. "No matter what they always seem to be the first to stumble across the ghost, even when they go out of their way to avoid it." Everyone in the room then shared a laugh at that comment. Then once the laughter died down Dusk spoke.

"What was the diver ghost exactly?" asked Dusk curiously. "That's a bit of an odd choice to dress up as."

"Ah old Captain Cutler, or rather his ghost." replied Fred with an enthusiastically friendly smile.

"His choice of disguise made sense considering that crook was operating under and in the water." added Velma. "I believe he was stealing boats to resell them."

"That was it, but don't spoil the story Velma." said Fred in reply.

"Oh, sorry girls." said Velma with a sheepish smile.

"Anyway back to the story. It was just us three, Shag and Scoob having a party on the beach in the late evening…"

* * *

Luna sipped from her cup of hot chocolate of the room as Fred, Velma and, Daphne, known the orange haired keyboard player now knew called themselves Mystery Inc. along with Shaggy and Scooby, brought another of there ghost/monster hunting stories to a close. The latter two having arrived back in the room a couple minutes prior with Ben Ravencroft, carrying trays of cookies and hot chocolate.

"Amazing those crooks dressed up as three ghosts themed around flavours of ice cream." said Thorn, in response to the previous story.

"Yeah how could they keep serious playing a role like that when it's so silly?" added Dusk as she brushed a piece of her blonde hair back into place.

"I've got no idea Dusk." answered Daphne. "All the ones we've encountered been amazing at acting their chosen monster or ghost."

"Apologizes for interrupting the current line of conversation, but I'm curious as to where dear Alastair Selous is." injected Ben Ravencroft as he looked over at Thorn.

"Oh he's doing his degree in architecture at a university in Moscow." answered Thorn, a little surprised by the question. "Why?"

"Ah of course, I'd completely forgotten. Albert Selous told me that a couple weeks ago during a phone call." replied Ben Ravencroft with a chuckle at his own forgetfulness. "As to why, well from what McKnight and Albert told me you two were always joined at the hip, so to speak. Thus it's odd to see you without him."

"Oh yeah, me and him have always been close." replied Thorn quickly, her pale face gaining a slight blush.

"He's a long-time friend of Thorn." explained Luna, when she noticed the confused expression on Mystery Inc.'s faces. She then motioned to herself and Dusk as she continued. "And a friend of ours too, though we only moved to Oakhaven two years and a half ago."

"He's her boyfriend too." added Dusk with a smile, the blush still on Thorn's cheeks.

"Sounds like a nice guy." said Daphne happily.

"He is. You five would like him." replied Thorn with a fanged smile. "Maybe you'll get to meet him someday."

"So who is this Selous family exactly?" asked Fred curiously.

"Yeah they keep coming up in conversation, but we haven't seen them once whilst we've been here." added Velma with equal curiosity.

"They are a wealthy family who live in their manor in the swamp on the southern edge of Oakhaven. Known for their eccentricities in business and the large donations they've provided the town since they moved here, which was in 1985." explained Ben Ravencroft. "I actually recommend they move here you know. I became acquainted with Albert, the head of the family, whilst during one of my trips to the British Isles to do research and find inspiration for my novels."

"You did?" asked Luna, surprised by the revelation. She'd never been told of this before.

"I did indeed. Albert wanted to move away from his ancestral home in the British Isles, mainly because he was tired of sharing the home with his brother's family and wanting more space for his wife and son, and asked me for a recommendation. I suggested Oakhaven and he came here for a visit a couple weeks later, fell in love with the ruined abandoned manor in the swamp and paid the town, since it was owned by the council, $300000 for it. Triple the asking price." answered Ben Ravencroft.

"Triple!" exclaimed Shaggy in surprise; almost spitting out the cookie he was eating.

"Why did he do that?" asked Daphne in confusion.

"Because that's the way they are, eccentric and are overly generous when paying for things." explained Ben Ravencroft. "Regardless the next three years the manor was being rebuilt and refurnished from top to bottom round the clock, sparing no expense on even the tiniest details. I dread to think of how much it cost…though I imagine the more expensive it was the happier Albert would be with it. But in the end it was finished and the family moved here in 1985."

"That's when I met Alastair." added Thorn with a happy smile on her face, Luna guessing she was remembering the moment.

"Ah yes at the welcome party they held." said Ben Ravencroft with a smile. "So typical of Albert. Instead of attending a welcome party he held one himself. Invited all significant figures of Oakhaven and their families to attend it." he then paused and looked over at Thorn. "My apologizes by the way Thorn for not recognizing you earlier, last time McKnight sent a picture in a letter to me of your family was six years ago…and you've obviously changed a lot since then."

"I have haven't I." said Thorn with a confident smile as she ran her right hand through her long black and red hair. "Mostly physically though."

"Yes urm…well regardless my apologizes." continued Ben Ravencroft, obviously unsure of quite how to responding to Thorn's comment about her changing physically. "We did after all meet once previously at the Selous's welcome party."

"Oh yeah Daddy says I shook hands with you." replied Thorn with a happy smile, which turned sheepish shortly afterwards. "But I don't really remember that or meeting you at all…"

"Which is fair enough, you were quite young then." said Ben Ravencroft reassuringly. "Plus you'd have never read any of my books then so there was no reason for you to remember meeting me." The writer then smirked slightly. "Besides I remember that afterwards you zoomed off to play with a certain black haired boy you'd spotted." The blush immediately returned to thorn's cheeks.

"Oh yeah, that was when I first saw Alastair." replied Thorn, both happiness and embarrassment in her voice. "I definitely remember that."

"Cause you thought he was hot." joked Dusk, causing both her and Luna to laugh at the guitar players expense.

"No, because he was the first non-adult I'd seen at the party stupid." responded Thorn in annoyance. "Besides I was six! I wasn't thinking about that stuff then!"

"So they're just a bunch of nice extremely rich eccentric people." stated Daphne in understanding.

"Basically." reaffirmed Luna.

"What do they look like?" asked Velma curiously. "Since we haven't seen them yet."

"I can get you a picture of them." answered Ben Ravencroft as he moved from sitting in his armchair towards a table out in the hallway, before stopping in his tracks. "Actually I have a better idea."

"What is it Ben?" asked Fred as the writer turned to face all of them.

"Three years ago they gifted me a painting of the family, painted by Zofia." answered Ben Ravencroft with a please smile on his face. "She's the mother of the family." said the writer, seeing the confused faces of Mystery Inc.

"Sounds like a killer idea." said Thorn as she stood up from the couch energetically, the hot chocolate no doubt have energized her like it had done to Luna.

"Ah good." replied Ben Ravencroft with a clap before turning around to head out into the hallway and into the rest of his house. "Just follow me then. We'll be at my little art gallery shortly."

* * *

Ben Ravencroft's art gallery was a medium sized rectangular room with a wooden floor, dark red painted walls and a white painted ceiling. Two electric chandlers hung from either end of the ceiling, illuminating the room in a yellow light. Across the walls were works of art, most depicting mythical creatures of some form whilst some featured landscapes or people.

"This is so cool." said Dusk, who was looking up at a painting of a roaring hydra in a swamp. "It's like an art museum, but good!"

"Sure is." affirmed Luna, who was quite enjoying the picture of a werewolf howling at a full moon. Not at all unlike the very full moon she had seen several times previously that night.

"I'm glad you like it." said Ben Ravencroft, a hint of pride in his friendly voice. "Most of these paintings were ones I found and bought whilst in Europe, though a couple are ones I commissioned or was given as gifts."

"Well it's quite the collection Ben." praised Fred as Shaggy and Scooby Doo shivered in front of a picture of a cackling phantom, Luna smirking slightly at how easily they were frightened. From what she had seen so far neither of them appeared to have any guts or backbone to speak of.

"Thank you Fred." replied the writer with a smile. "But I did bring you all here to see the picture of the Selous Family, so let's head to it."

"Where is it?" inquired Thorn, her eyes scanning the room for the picture.

"At the end of the hall, it's hard to see from here." answered Ben Ravencroft as he began walking down the length of the room. "Come on."

After passing a few other paintings they reached the picture they'd come to the room to see. It depicted Alastair, Albert, Zofia, Igor and Mowgli in what Luna guessed to be the back garden of their house. All of the males were standing whilst Zofia was sitting in an ornately carved wooden chair, her ivory coloured hands on her lap and a calm neutral expression on her face. Albert was standing to her right was a proud smile on his face with Mowgli standing to his left, a neutral expression on the Indian servant's face. Alastair was standing to the left of his mother and was leaning slightly on her chair, a calm neutral expression much like his mother's on his face as his mane of black hair flowed down his back. Behind them all was the towering form of Igor, who much like Mowgli had a neutral expression. Albert was wearing an old fashioned look black suit whilst the two servants were wearing more modern looking black suits. Zofia was wearing one of her many identical long black dresses and Alastair was wearing a simple black long sleeved shirt and black pants.

Zofia's blue eyes and Alastair's green eye and blue eye stood out in stark contrast with the brown eyes of Albert and the two servants. In part due to their colour but also because they appeared to have been painted a couple shades brighter than their actual eye colours in order to make them stand out more, especially in the case of Alastair's eyes.

Luna was actually a little bit creeped out by how the eyes of all the occupants looked. They just looked so real as they starred out of the painting at her. It was like the family was there in the room, relatively speaking. Especially Alastair, who's painted eyes felt like they were piercing right into her.

"So that's them?" asked Fred, snapping Luna out of her trance.

"Sure is." answered Luna.

"They look like Victorians almost." commented Daphne. "Standing and sitting there so solemn and neutral."

"Sure do Daph." agreed Shaggy. "Bar the guy with the moustache. He looks rather friendly."

"That guy is Albert." said Ben Ravencroft in response. "He's always far more jolly than the rest of them. The most you'll ever get out of Zofia, the one seated in the chair and Albert's wife, is a small smile if anything. Alastair is also calm and neutral unless he's with friends from what I've seen and hard."

"He's the one with the green and blue eyes." added Thorn dreamily as she starred up at the unmoving, stoic painted form of her boyfriend.

"A genetic condition I presume?" asked Velma as she turned to face Thorn.

"Yeah it is." answered Thorn without breaking her eyes away from the painting.

"Who are the other two guys?" asked Fred curiously.

"They are their servants." answered Ben Ravencroft, beating Luna to the punch. "The thin Indian next to Albert is Mowgli and the big muscular Russian is Igor. The two of them have been serving Albert and Zofia as long as I've known them."

"And they need them with a house as big as there's." said Dusk.

"Especially since Alastair is so lazy." added Thorn with an uncharacteristic giggle.

"Yes well the two are fairly dependable from what I've seen. Always being there to help their employers." said Ben Ravencroft, before frowning. "Both are very neutral though, especially Mowgli. I've never seen him show even a speck of emotion."

"Nor have we." said Luna, glancing back up at the towering painted form of Igor. She was always confused as to why he was a servant; the man looked more like a strongman bone breaking wrestler than an obedient quiet servant.

"Who's in this painting?" asked Dusk as she pointed to the painting hanging to the left of the Selous Family painting. The painting was of four teenagers standing under a tree together. The first was a fairly rotund boy with orange hair wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans, the second was a boy with black hair in a rather familiar pony tail wearing a brown long sleeved top and beige pants, the third was a boy with neatly combed brown hair wearing a white t-shirt and grey pants who had his arm round the slender waist of the fourth and final teenager, who was a girl with pure black hair wearing a simple black dress and was a spitting image of Thorn sans the red highlights. The boys were all grinning whilst the girl was laughing.

"That's myself, Mr. McKnight, Mrs. McKnight and Mayor Corey when we were still teenagers." answered Ben Ravencroft with a happy nostalgic smile. "Back in our last year at Oakhaven High School. Zofia painted it for me, it's based on a photograph I have upstairs."

Luna found it quite amusing seeing the teenage Mayor Corey, Ben Ravencroft and Mr. McKnight. Especially in the cases of the Mayor and Thorn's farther because it was funny seeing people she now knew looked so…well look so much younger…and kind of handsome.

Though seeing the teenage June McKnight, the teenage mother of Thorn, creeped Luna out a bit. It was like seeing Thorn in the painting…except a dead version of her friend.

"You all look very handsome there." commented Daphne to Ben Ravencroft with a smile. "Or beautiful in Thorn's mother's case." Luna noticed that Thorn smiled slightly at that remark; abet a sad smile as she looked up at the painting of her deceased mother.

"Thank you Daphne." replied the writer with a hearty chuckle. "And yes June, Mrs. McKnight, did always look beautiful." The black haired man was looking up at the painted form Thorn's mother with a sad expression on his face.

"Did?" inquired Fred, obviously catching the implication of the wording of the writer's speech.

"Yes she passed away five years ago." replied Ben Ravencroft, pausing ever so briefly to remember how much time had passed. The writer was indeed correct, as Luna remembered Mr. McKnight telling her that Thorn's mother had passed away three years ago back when she had moved to Oakhaven, and two years had passed since then meaning it was indeed roughly five years since Thorn's mother would have died.

The group was then as they all stood in front of painted teenage June McKnight hanging on the dark red wall, her laughing expression the complete opposite to the expressions of those standing before the painting. Their expressions being pity filled in the cases of Mystery Inc., Dusk and Luna and saddness in the cases of Thorn and Ben Ravencroft. The writer was looking genuinely sad and mournful as he looked up at the picture of his dead friend. Thorn on the other hand was just looking at the floor, a sad and near heartbroken expression on her face.

"But we shouldn't despair…she, she would hate that." spoke Ben Ravencroft with a brief uncharacteristic stutter in his voice. "She hated being sad, always joyful and jokey."

"And kind and friendly." added Thorn sorrowfully.

"Indeed. No doubt she'd love you music too." replied the writer as he turned to face Thorn, giving her a small almost optimistic smile which the black and red haired girl returned with a small one of her own.

"So…do you have any paintings of Sarah Ravencroft?" asked Luna in an attempt to move away from the depressing topic for Thorn's sake, whom the orange haired girl knew from past experiences did not like being reminded of the heartbreak caused by her mother's early and sudden death.

"I have do one, it's upstairs in my study." answered Ben Ravencroft, his gaze moving from Thorn to the orange haired girl.

"Can we go see it?" asked Dusk curiously. "To see how she looked."

"Yeah I'd be nice to have a picture to match the name." added Thorn. The sadness and sorrow from earlier was gone from her voice, making Luna happy that her attempt to switch for the conversation from a depressing topic had succeeded.

"Ah of course we can." replied the writer happily, a wide smile on his face. "I'd be glad to show you three her."

* * *

Ben Ravencroft's study was surprisingly simple. Lying one wall was two fairly large bookcases containing old looking books and binders, which Luna guessed contained information and notes for when the author was writing his books. Mounted on the wall in between the two bookcases was a shield and two spears, an ornamental ancient looking pot positioned beneath it on the floor. To the right of the door was a simple brown couch with an oval coffee table in front of it with a chest board set on top of it and a side table and old fashioned looking lamp to the couch's right. On the wall above the couch were five pictures showing the covers of Ben Ravencroft's earliest books, Skull Cap, The Dead Mall, The Caretaker's Coffin Nails, The Catenate Mall and S.T.A.B. Contempt.

At the opposite end of the room was a heavy set wooden desk with a computer set up on it along with a pen stand and a lamp, presumably where Ben Ravencroft wrote his books whilst sitting in the blue swivel chair which was placed behind the desk. An armchair was set slightly in front of the desk and a big wide window was set into the wall behind them, giving a view of the beautiful almost blue coloured night sky.

Finally right hand wall had a large brick fireplace set into it which had a bookcase to its left and a suit of armour to its right. On top of the shelf of the fireplace were two brass boxes, one rectangular and one circular, and two ornamental brass dragons at either end of the shelf. But the real centrepiece of the fireplace was the painting of a beautiful brown haired woman wearing a raggy looking dress holding book next to a large oak tree and a wooden house.

"There she is." said Ben Ravencroft as he pointed over at the painting. "Sarah Ravencroft."

The three Hex Girls headed over to the painting with the writer whilst Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo spread out throughout the study. Ben Ravencroft lent of the side of the fireplace's shelf as he looked up at the painting of his ancestor, whilst Thorn, Dusk and Luna stood in a line in front of the painting. Each of the Eco-Goths stared up at the painted form of Sarah Ravencroft in a combination of awe and respect.

"So she was a real wiccan?" asked Luna curiously as she took in the surprisingly poor looking state of Sarah Ravencroft's dress. She'd never expected an ancestor of Ben Ravencroft to look quite so poor.

"That's right." answered Ben Ravencroft, his voice betraying a sense of pride as he spoke.

"Oh, so cool." said Dusk in reply, clearly in awe of seeing a painting of real olden day Wiccan.

"She's beautiful." stated Thorn, her voice filled with respect and awe.

"Yes, I think so, too." replied Ben Ravencroft. "And that's why I get upset when people accuse her of being a witch."

"Ah." began Fred causing the three Hex Girls to all creepily turn in unison to look over at him, their hands going to their slender waists as they did so. His voice was apologetic as he continued "I think I owe you girls an apology for thinking you were…well err…" before trailing off, obviously unsure what to say.

"Witches." said Daphne friendlily with a smile, finishing Fred's sentence for him. "We saw you perform some kind of ritual in your shed."

"Witches? We just pretend that stuff." replied Dusk as she took one hand off her waist to motion at Thorn, seemingly using her as an example of her point. "Like Luna said earlier, it's just a gimmick for our band."

"We're eco-goths, kind of like wiccans." added Luna friendlily as a further explanation. "Just ask Thorn, she is one." As she spoke she took her left hand off her waist and pointed at Thorn, her and Dusk both turning and giving her a knowing smile as she did so.

"Yeah, right." said Thorn with a laugh, obviously trying to downplay the fact she was a Wiccan. "Sally McKnight, 1/16 blood on my mother's side." she black and red haired girl continued as she motioned to her chest as she spoke about her ancestry. "And that ritual you saw was just peppermint and cloves to soothe my vocal chords. You think it's easy singing this stuff?" Smiling and moving her hand to point to the side slightly as she gave her explanation, clearly finding amusement in the situation and oddly not at all creeped out that she had been followed home by at least Daphne and Fred. Which Luna found a bit odd.

"Thorn's herbal vapours are awesome." added Dusk, leaning forward and putting her hands out in front of her for emphasis. "We all use it before and after every show." motioning to herself, Thorn and Luna as she continued.

"But what about your fangs?" asked Shaggy, his voice a mixture of curiosity and nervousness.

"My dad's a dentist." answered Luna friendlily before she reached up to her mouth and took her fake fangs out of her mouth and leant over with them nearby to a nervous looking Scooby Doo. "He outfitted the band." she continued with an amused expression on her face as she closed and opened her hand making the fake fangs look they were biting down in front of the dog.

"Rrikes!" said Scooby as he jumped into Shaggy's arms in fright as Luna look on with the amused expression still on her face. Amazing how scared the two of them were at everything. It was kind of amusing in a way, thought the orange haired musician as Dusk and Thorn took out their fangs and showed the gang them to prove the point more.

"Like we knew it all along." joked Shaggy with a laugh, Scooby Doo still sitting in his arms. "Right, Scoob?"

The dog then turned around to face Shaggy, baring his own canine fangs and hissing creepily as he did so and causing a fear stricken expression to replace the hippy's previously happy one.

"Yikes!" yelped out Shaggy as he quickly dropped Scooby Doo on the floor and jumped into Luna's arms in fright, startling the dark skinned girl. The keyboard player glared at him in annoyance as he laughed sheepishly, before she rolled her eyes and dumped him unceremoniously on the floor.

Scooby Doo then laughed at Shaggy as the two of them lay on the floor where they had both been dropped, the hippy looking back at the dog in annoyance. Luna just looked down at them with her hands on her waist; and despite her best efforts a slightly amused expression replaced the previously annoyed one on her face. The two cowards were quite cute in their own odd way…

The orange haired goth was then snapped from her thoughts, along with everyone else in the room, by the sound of knocking on the study door, it opening shortly after to reveal Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight. What were the two of them doing in Ben Ravencroft's house?

"Mayor?" asked Ben Ravencroft in surprise at the sudden intrusion.

"We've been ringing your doorbell for some time and…" began the Mayor in explanation with a friendly smile on his face.

"Oh, sorry about that. I've been meaning to fix that thing for years." replied Ben Ravencroft as he walked over towards the two men, putting his hands out as he did so. "What's up, mayor?" continued the writer once he reached them, motioning to the Mayor with his left hand as he did so.

"Well Ben I feel real bad about everything." answered the Mayor, his voice guilty and apologetic as Ben Ravencroft crossed his arms as the elected official spoke. "And I wanted to apologize for using your ancestor in our little publicity stunt."

"The tourist trade was so slow. We were desperate." said Mr. McKnight guiltily, as an explanation for their actions.

"Right, and, and you once told me that supernatural phenomena always attracts people." added the Mayor quickly as he turned round to face the writer again, motioning with his hands as he spoke. Ben Ravencroft merely frowned back at him with his arms still crossed, obviously not convinced by the explanation.

"It was just natural to use Sarah because…" said Mr. McKnight before pausing to let out a shame filled sigh, Velma talking over to the three men as he did so. "We accidentally dug up her grave."

"What grave?" asked Ben Ravencroft, both his expression and tone filled with surprise as well as interest. Luna was a bit confused by his response since surely of all people would have known Sarah Ravencroft had a grave it would have been Ben, considering how obsessed he seemed with her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ben." began the Mayor sincerely apologetic, pointing at the writer as he spoke. "But you see I lied to you when you asked me if we found anything of Sarah's while we were building the Puritan Village." His hand going to his chest when he said I.

"We did." said Mr. McKnight, pausing briefly as he looked down at the ground before looking up and raising his hand to motion at Ben as he continued his explanation. "It was her grave marker. We found it in a bulldozed pile of dirt and rocks." The pharmacist then sighed again, obviously ashamed and unhappy to be the one telling his old friend about how they'd found his beloved ancestor's grave marker. "We didn't want to upset you."

"But that's all we found huh." added Mayor Corey as he turned from Mr. McKnight to Ben Ravencroft. "No bones."

"No…book?" asked Ben Ravencroft, his voice clearly surprised. That confused Luna too, why would he be more interested in some book than his ancestor's remains. Especially since odds were if a book had been buried with Sarah Ravencroft surely it would have rotted away by now.

"Nothing but that grave marker." answered Mr. McKnight truthfully, raising his hand as he continued speaking. "We swear Ben."

"We don't even know where her grave is." added the Mayor, shrugging apologetically as he did so.

"It's true." affirmed Mr. McKnight. "It could be anywhere between Miller's creek and the big tree stump."

Velma then gasped, her expression one as realization as she turned and headed over to look up at the picture of Sarah Ravencroft. Luna turning alongside her fellow Hex Girls and Mystery Inc. to look at the orange clad girl curiously. Each of them wondering what idea had popped into her mind.

"Shaggy, do you still have that little shoe buckle Scooby found today?" asked Velma as she turned around to face her friend.

"Like, this one?" asked Shaggy he walked up to Velma, taking the shoe buckle out of his pocket as he did so. "Here." he said as he passed the bespectled girl the buckle in question.

She then turned and held out the buckle to the painting, obviously comparing it to the…oh Luna got it now! The shoe buckle was really the clasp on the book Sarah Ravencroft was holding in the picture. They looked almost completely alike as Velma held it up to the painted equivalent.

"Scooby, can you show me exactly where you found this?" asked Velma as the dog walked up next to her, bending over slightly to hold the clasp where he could see it as she did so.

"Ri rink so." answered Scooby Doo happily.

"Great." replied Velma as she pet the dog on the head briefly.

"What is it Velma?" asked Daphne curiously. Luna couldn't help but smile to herself, amused that the other orange haired girl couldn't figure it out.

"She knows where Sarah's grave is located." answered Luna confidently, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on her as she spoke. All of their expressions surprised except for Thorn who was looking at her with an impressed expression on her face. "Right Velma?"

"Well I think I've made a pretty good guess." answered Velma, her voice betraying that she was surprised that Luna had figured it out too. "But yes Luna, I do believe I know around where Sarah Ravencroft's grave is located."

"Well where is it? We must go check there at once." said Ben Ravencroft insistently as he walked forward a couple steps from where he had been standing next to Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight, his voice and expression containing a mixture of excitement and happiness.

"It's not far, if I'm correct." replied Velma, obviously pleased that she had the writer's attention. "We just need to take a brief walk."

* * *

The full moon was still high in the sky as they followed Scooby Doo down the main street of Oakhaven and out into the field where the Puritan. Village had been constructed. The dog in question was leading the way with Velma following close behind him, a lantern held high in her right hand. Following behind her was Shaggy, Fred and Daphne. The second of which was carrying a flashlight, the only other source of light other than the rays of the moonlight and Velma's lantern. Following behind Mystery Inc. was Ben Ravencroft, Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight and following behind them was Thorn, Dusk and Luna.

Luna couldn't help but shiver as they followed Scooby Doo through the Puritan Village, but not from the cold Autumnal breeze. She was just getting the feeling that something bad was going to happen. She didn't know why she thought that but the keyboard player couldn't shake the feeling.

Maybe it was just the fact that they were walking through the now empty Puritan Village. The model town was quite creepy at night after all, with it still looking lived in despite being void of any signs of life other than their group.

Finally after a couple minutes more of walking they neared a large old tree stump which Luna immediately recognized. At last year's Autumn Fest it had been used as a stand for bottles used in that fairground ground, she couldn't remember the name exactly but it was the one where you threw a ball and tried to knock the bottles down to win a prize. She remembered playing it with Dusk whilst Thorn had just stood by stuffing her face with cotton candy…it still amazed her that Thorn could stay so perfectly slender with the amount she sometimes ate.

"Rhere." said Scooby Doo as he stopped just short of the tree stump, raising his left front paw to point at it as he did so. Velma then approached the stump alongside Ben Ravencroft as they both knelt down to example it.

"All these years I was searching around the wrong oak tree." said Ben Ravencroft, his voice and stance giving off a mixture of shock and awe at the realization. As he spoke Velma placed her lantern on the stump and Shaggy, Fred, Daphne approached the stump too.

Luna stood a bit behind them near Scooby Doo, keeping close to Thorn and Dusk whilst the Mayor and Mr. McKnight stood a bit to their left. She still had that feeling something bad was going to happen. It was unnerving her at what should probably be a happy exciting moment.

"I believe this is what's left of the tree where Sarah did her healing." explained Velma as she stood up, Ben Ravencroft following suit. She then motioned to the writer as she continued her explanation. "You never even noticed it because it was cut down hundreds of years ago." She then approached Scooby Doo and said. "You gotta dig deeper, Scooby."

"Ruh-uhh." replied the dog as he shook his head.

"How about for a Scooby snack?" offered. Velma.

"Ruh-uhh." answered the dog as he shook his head again, after taking a brief moment to think the offer over. "Ro way."

"Two Scooby snacks? offered Velma, taking out of box of said snacks from seemingly nowhere.

"Ok!" replied Scooby Doo enthiuastically. Luna couldn't help but look down at the dog in amusement, it was just funny had Velma was having to bribe it to do things for her.

Making good on her promise Velma threw two of the aforementioned snacks into the air and Scooby Doo leaped up after them, catching them mid leap and chewing them happily. He then shot off, seemingly energized by the treat and began digging furiously near the bottom of the tree stump. So furiously in fact that the dog kicked up a lot of mud into the air, causing Ben Ravencroft, Daphne and Fred to have to run out of the way to avoid getting covered in it. The dog dug so much that he disappeared as he burrowed down into the ground.

Then there was the sound of a clunk, and Scooby Doo stopped digging.

"What did you find?" asked Ben Ravencroft quickly within seconds of the sound, his tone urgent.

"Rox." answered Scooby Doo, still in the hole he had dug.

"Rocks?" asked Ben Ravencroft in confusion.

Scooby Doo then came back of the hole, pulling a small damaged wooden chest with worn brass lock and hinges with him.

"A box." said Daphne in amazement as Scooby Doo deposited the box on the ground, moving out of the way as Ben Ravencroft ran towards it. The author had an excited expression on his face as he collapsed to his knees in front of the box, not that Luna could blame him. The writer had seemingly been looking for years of a piece of evidence to show that his ancestor had been a Wiccan and not a witch, and this box just might contain the evidence he needed.

Then again if the box contained that why couldn't Luna shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Oh." breathed out Ben Ravencroft as he played his hands on the box, grinning like an excited child on Christmas morning. Everyone gathered round the writer in a semi-circle as he picked the box up and held it in his hands, which were shaking from anticipation.

"Ben, are you ok?" asked Velma as she approached the writer.

"Just a little…excited." replied Ben Ravencroft as he stared at the box, his attention fully on it. He was creeping Luna out now. Evidence or no evidence no one would get that excited about finding a simple journal.

The writer then opened the box's lip to reveal its contents, a leather bound box with a clasp and an engraving of a suspiciously evil looking skull on the front of it. He then picked the book up and held it tightly in his hands, a creepily excited grin on his face.

And now Luna didn't know much about Wicca and Wiccans, she barely knew anything in fact other than it had something to do with nature and they were good at making natural medicines and remedies. But she was pretty sure that no Wiccan would ever have a book like that. It looked too evil to belong to someone who healed people.

"Looks kind of evil to belong to a Wiccan healer." said Daphne as the writer grinned creepily excitedly. He then began to flip through the pages of the book, revealing them to be covered with ornate cursive writing and black images of cats, spiders, cobwebs, cauldrons, demonic creatures, insects and other creepy looking images which belonged more in a Halloween catalogue than a Wiccan's journal.

"Ben, that doesn't seem to be a journal at all." said Velma as she pointed at the book, her tone one of curiosity at her realization.

"Because it isn't, Velma." replied Ben Ravencroft as he looked over his shoulder at the orange clad girl, a creepy grin on his face. His expression was almost…evil in a way.

"It's a spell book."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Duh nuh nuh!

The mention of "ghosts themed around ice cream flavors" is a reference to the three Technicolor Phantoms (I personally think the ice cream ghosts is a better name) from the SD Show episode "The Ghost of the Bad Humor Man"...which is a title which makes little sense to me. And Captain Cutler is a rather obvious nod to the glowing yellow ghost diver we all remember and love.

Just a couple brief notes on the names of Ben Ravencroft's books. In the first scene his study is seen there are three posters which are of The Dead Mall, Caretaker's Coffin Nails and Skull Cap. In the second scene (aka this one) there are four posters which are of The Dead Mall, Skull Cap, The Catenate Mall and Stab Contempt. I merely took the liberty of merging them all into the single scene for continuity's sake.

It's worth saying that in the actual scene of the Witch's Ghost S.T.A.B Contempt is actually spelt S.A.T.B. Camtempt in a close up; when from a far it says STAB. I merely made the assumption that it is changed from S.T.A.B to S.A.T.B Camptempt in the close up because of either having stab written there was too dark for a children's film, hence why it is odd yellow hand prints (which would presumably be red like blood going by the title)…though that is thrown out of the window a bit by the rest of the film's content and Zombie Island.

And finally the description of Ben's study may be a a tiny bit off as it changes slightly between scenes. In the first scene it has another bookcase and a couple more miscellaneous items in it than it does later on, and whilst I did add some things scene in the first thing in (such as the chess set on the coffee table) I based my description more on how the study looks in its second appearance as it is when the Hex Girls see it.

Anyway next chapter we'll be wrapping up the Witch's Ghost, meaning that the wicked banshee you've all been waiting for will finally be making an appearance! Of course you already know that since you've seen the movie...or at least I presume you have otherwise I'm confused as to why you're reading this story but I'm happy to see you are anyway and I highly recommend you go watch SD and the Witch's Ghost.


	9. She's The One We Fear the Most!

"Because it isn't, Velma. It's a spell book." replied Ben Ravencroft in a confident and creepy tone, placing emphasis on the word book. Velma gasped in a mixture of shock and surprised as she stepped back from the writer, everyone else steeping back to shortly after.

"You see, Sarah wasn't a Wiccan." explained Ben Ravencroft as he confidently stood there holding the spell book. "She was indeed a witch." The author smiled and hugged the book as he said witch, a creepy happiness in his motions.

Mr. McKnight, Mayor Corey and Fred, all of whom were standing in a line near one another, all gasped in surprise at the revelation.

Thorn, Dusk and Luna gasped in to surprise a second later, Thorn and Dusk even going so far to their arms to their chest in shock.

"A real witch." said Thorn as she looked over at her two fellow musicians questioningly, her voice clearly shocked but containing a hint of curiosity mixed in with it.

"Heavy." replied Dusk as she raised her right hand to her mouth, obviously shocked and a bit creeped out.

Not that Luna blamed her. After all they just found out that Sarah Ravencroft, the ancestor of their all-time favourite author, was an actual witch. Like a real witch! All three of them were interested in that kind of stuff…though they'd never realised or thought that actual witches were real before. Nor that their favourite author was related to one by blood.

"And since Sarah's blood runs in my veins, I guess that makes me…a warlock." said Ben Ravencroft confidently, with that creepy smile with on his face as he put his left hand on his chest when he said warlock. His other hand and arm tightly round his ancestor's spellbook.

"Rarlock?" said Scooby Doo in panic as he looked over at Shaggy who looked back at him, the latter of which had his arm round himself in fright.

Not that Luna could blame them. Being a warlock meant having magical powers, or at least the ability to gain magical powers and warlocks in fiction were never the good guys…and unlike those fictional works Ben Ravencroft was very real.

"The wiccans imprisoned Sarah in her own spell book." explained Ben Ravencroft to Velma as he walked pass her, grinning at her evilly. "And you helped me find it." The deceitful writer putting emphasis on "you" as the orange clad girl glared at him.

"You lied to me Ben." accused Velma, her expression angry as she pointed accusingly at him. Which Luna had to say was pretty unthreatening, due to the bespeckled girl's small stature. Especially when compared to Ben Ravencroft's taller height and confident stance.

"Well, gee." said Ben Ravencroft as he turned around to face Velma, doing and uncaring almost shrugging gesture with his hands as he did so. "I had to. I've been searching for years." continued the writer as leant forward and motioned to Velma before standing upright again and grinning creepily.

No make that evilly, his creepy expression that had creeped Luna out a bit earlier was gone. In its place was an evil grin that radiated satisfaction and confidence. The moon obsessed musician wasn't creeped out by the sudden change in her favourite writer now, she was outright scared.

"Then I read about your exploits." explained Ben Ravencroft confidently. "I knew if anyone could help me find the book, it was you and your friends. I orchestrated the whole mummy scheme, paying off the archaeologists and the security guards, just to lure you to the museum so we could meet."

"Heh heh heh. Yes, Velma." continued Ben Ravencroft tauntingly as he motioned to himself as he looked down condescendingly at the glaring orange clad girl, Velma's arms crossed defiantly. "I tricked you into helping me, and it worked."

"And you were in on Ben's plan too." accused Fred as he turned round and pointed accusingly at Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight, which Luna noticed earned a glare from Thorn. Not that she played the guitarist. There was no evidence and no way at all that her farther had any involvement what so ever with the writer's twisted scheme!

"Uh uh no! We're as surprised as you are." stuttered out Mayor Corey quickly in reply, raising his left hand and putting his right hand to his chest as he did so. "H-honest!"

"For once he's telling the truth. That stupid fake ghost was the town's idea!" said Ben Ravencroft, sounding genuinely annoyed as he mentioned the fake ghost, whilst Daphne went over to put her arms round Velma comfortingly. "But it did work to my advantage." The writer sounding rather pleased with himself at how used the fake ghost for his own gain.

"Why go through this elaborate scheme?" asked Daphne in confusion, Fred walking over to her and Velma as she spoke. "Why not just ask us to find the book?"

"I know why." said Velma, breaking away from Daphne's arms with her hands curled in little frustrated fists. "Because if we knew what that book was, we would never have helped him."

Luna couldn't help but feel that Velma's anger was affecting her thinking. Sure Ben Ravencroft didn't tell them that Sarah Ravencroft's journal was really a spell book, but they helped him find it regardless didn't they? That and it really wasn't that much of an elaborate scheme past the bribing museum archaeologists and the security guards and aligning it perfectly with when the Autumn Fest was, giving him an excuse to bring mystery Inc. to Oakhaven and lead them to eventually locate the book. The orange haired girl knew even she could have come up with and executed a plan that basic…bar the whole bribery bit since she currently had little money.

It was also suspiciously similar to the plot of S.T.A.B. Contempt where the villain basically did the same thing; expect to find a hidden bunker rather than a spellbook. Then again Ben Ravencroft wrote that book, so he likely got the idea for his plan from his own novel.

"But even you can't imagine the real power of this book." replied Ben Ravencroft with a confident, and slightly full of himself, evil smile as he held it open on what seemed to be a random page. "No mere mortal can." and with that the writer turned and began to walk away from the ground.

Luna couldn't help but feel that this just might be a good time to run…

"You've been reading too many of your own horror stories, Ravencroft." declared Fred confidently as he took on stepped forward and pointed over at the writer accusingly.

"A typical mortal response." replied Ben Ravencroft condescendingly as he flipped to what appear to be a specific page of the spellbook, turning to face Fred and everyone else. "But I am descended from a superior breed. I shall unlock the power of the imprisoned Sarah Ravencroft!"

Luna couldn't help but shiver at that remark. She was genuinely frightened and worried now, reaching over to clutch Dusk's hand tightly for reassurance as Thorn did the same on the other side of the blonde. Each of the Eco-Goths accidently causing Dusk to jump in tense surprise at the sudden contact.

"Like, I don't like the sound of this." Luna heard Shaggy say nervously.

"Re reither." replied Scooby Doo worriedly, whom was sitting up on his back legs.

"Together we shall reign supreme!" declared Ben Ravencroft as he put his left hand dramatically in the air, illuminated by both the lantern and the full moon as he began reading from the spellbook. "Let the evil from the past, breath again with fiery blast."

As the writer spoke the wind picked up dramatically, swirling around Ben Ravencroft as it created a spiral of grey clouds above him and near deafened Luna with each thunderous gust. Leaves were pulled off the trees around the area and flung around him along with loose bits of dirt and grass, causing everyone to have to shield their faces to avoid getting hit by the debris.

"No!" said Velma in a feeble attempt at getting the writer to stop reading the spell whilst Shaggy and Scooby covered their eyes in fright. Luna knew she should run, but she was too mesmerized by what was happening to do so.

"Let the dark wind whip the night, to blow away the force of light."

"Like I know what comes next buddy. Big trouble!" Luna heard Shaggy say to Scooby Doo as a tree flew over near them, causing the dog and guy to let out a "Yikes!" before running away from the wind, spiral of clouds and mad writer. Which Luna thought was the smart thing to do in the current situation.

She'd being it to if not for that fact that she didn't want to abandon Thorn and Dusk. They were like sisters to her, and sisters don't just go abandoning each other.

"Now I summon, ancient power." continued Ben Ravencroft with a smile, oblivious to the destruction happening around him as he raised his left arm in the air, his hand clenched in a fist which reminded Luna of the pictures of Communist extremists and Black Power extremists she'd seen before in the news.

"Ben please stop!" called out Velma before she, Daphne and Fred got blown back across the ground by the wind as it picked up even more. The three Hex Girls only not suffering the same due to the three of them standing a further distance from the writer than the remaining trio of Mystery Inc. had.

"This is evil's, finest hour!" declared Ben Ravencroft with an evil smile as a glowing beam of light spilled out of the spellbook and spiralled up into the air above him, Luna shielding her eyes from the intensity of the light. The writer laughing evilly as went up, and up, and up before falling back to the ground quickly and hitting him as his laughed reached a fevered pitch. Once it hit him the light disappeared after briefly surrounding the writer in a green sphere, a few crackles of green energy remaining for a couple seconds before vanishing into the air.

"No!" said Velma once more defiantly as she ran up to the author, leaving Fred and Daphne behind on the ground. The later shielded in the former's arms (look at the scene next time you watch the Witch's Ghost, it happens!).

"What's the matter, Velma?" asked Ben Ravencroft after letting out a truly evil, yet confident, laugh. "Don't you like the new, improved Ben Ravencroft?" The writer removing and dropping his glasses as he spoke presumably because his newfound powers included the healing, if not improvement, of his eyesight.

"No, frankly I don't." answered Velma, a mixture of anger and annoyance in her voice as she shielded her face from the wind which still plagued the area.

"Well, get used to it." replied Ben Ravencroft with an insane looking smile, Luna taking a look at his unspectacled face as he spoke. For some reason the lack of glasses made the writer look creepy, his pupils bigger and more piercing. When compared to how he had looked earlier that night Ben Ravencroft looked outright scary.

And judging by how Mr. McKnight and Mayor Corey, both old friends of the writer, began to run for the hills when he looked over at them Luna wasn't the only one who found his new look creepy.

"Aaaaah!" let out both the pharmacist and the mayor as they ran; each obviously scared out of their wits.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Ben Ravencroft creepily sarcastically. "The party's just beginning!" With that the writer shot a beam of green energy which hit his two friends and lifted them into the air. Then with a swish of Ben Ravencroft's hands the two men were deposited and locked in a pair of stocks.

"Help!" called Mr. McKnight, fear clearly in his voice.

"Let us out!" added Mayor Corey before the two men began struggling in their respective stock, stomping their feet up and down as they did so.

"Daddy!" called Thorn before running towards her trapped farther, ignoring the strong wind which she'd been braced against a second before. Dusk than began running after Thorn and Luna followed suit shortly after. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but as she'd thought to herself earlier sisters stick together. Plus Mr. McKnight was a friend of hers and thus it did make sense to at least try and help him.

Oh and help the Mayor to of course.

"Oh how deeply moving." said Ben Ravencroft semi-sarcastically as he watched them run towards his two friends, a creepily amused smile on the writer's face whilst his left hand nonchalantly at his side and his right one held the spellbook tightly.

The writer then raised his left hand and shot another beam of green light from it which hit the three of them and pulled them up into the air, each of them letting out a shriek of "Ahhhh!" in surprise and terror as they were moved through the air by the green light until they were deposited by a wooden pole.

The green energy then moved over to a nearby weaving wheel and caused it begin moving by itself. It then shoot a string of golden yarn through the air and over to the three Hex Girls just as they landed on the ground, beginning to spin around them almost immediately.

"Hey!" said Thorn in annoyance and frustration as the yarn spun around them.

Shortly after she spoke the three Hex Girls let out a groan of pain as the yawn finished tightly binding the gothic musicians to the pole, their shoulders pressed up against one another as they were bound with their backs to the pole on three sides. Luna grimaced; the yarn felt tighter around her than that dress Zofia had given her at the Christmas party two years ago.

Heck it felt tighter around her body than that one time she'd tried out a corset she, Thorn and Dusk had bought out of curiosity once. The yarn was constricting her breathing about as much as it did.

"Can I spin a yarn or what?" asked Ben Ravencroft sarcastically, putting an odd emphasis on how he said "what."

"How could I have ever liked your novels?" asked Velma, more to herself than anyone else as Thorn and Dusk struggled against their bonds. She then pointed over at Ben Ravencroft. "Now, guys, grab the book!"

"Gotcha!" said Fred as both he and Daphne grabbed Ben Ravencroft in an attempt to wrestle him to the ground and take the spellbook from him. Unfortunately barely a second after they grabbed him the writer leaped out of their grasp and into the air, disappearing out of the range of Luna's sight.

"Stop staring Luna and help us." hissed Thorn in annoyance as she continued to struggle against the yarn with Dusk, each of their shoulders bashing against Luna's as they did so.

"How? Struggled against something tied so tight around us isn't going to do anything you know." retorted Luna, ignoring whatever the three remaining members of Mystery Inc. were saying in the background.

"It's going to do a hell of a lot more than just standing there!" shot back Thorn fustratedly.

"And it'll waste a hell of a lot more energy." replied Luna.

"And it makes it more uncomfortable." added Dusk as she stopped struggling. The blonde was indeed right, Luna was pretty sure the yarn had gotten tighter around them when they struggled. Maybe there was still a bit of magic left in the yawn?

"You're right." admitted Thorn in annoyance, which Luna knew from past experiences was because the guitarist hated to be proven wrong.

"But what are we going to do then?" asked Dusk, the blonde's voice betraying a hint of worry. Which was understandable given their current vulnerable position and the events unfolding before them.

"We just wait." answered Luna unsurely. What else could the three of them do in their current position other than wait?

"For what? Those guys to free us?" asked Thorn sarcastically.

"I guess." answered Luna.

"Pfft not going to happen Luna." replied Thorn, a divaish tone to her voice. "Because if you were paying attention two of them ran away like cowards and the remaining three are trapped."

Sure enough Thorn was right. Daphne, Fred and Velma were trap in a ring of fire, presumably created by Ben Ravencroft, and they definitely weren't going anywhere. The writer then came back into Luna's view as he dropped from the thatched roof of a nearby building and landed in front of the trapped trio. He then began laughing at them in a taunting fashioned, grinning madly as he held the spellbook tightly in his hands.

"You won't get away with this Ben Ravencroft!" called out Velma, Luna barely hearing her voice over the roaring of the flames.

"Why?" asked Ben Ravencroft with a smirk, amusement clear in his voice. "Because of you meddling kids?"

"Hey, we're not kids!" replied Fred in annoyance.

"But enough of this minor magic. I want to see how powerful I can really be." said Ben Ravencroft as he looked down at his ancestor's spellbook, before flipping through its pages. "It's time to summon Sarah Ravencroft."

Luna shivered at those words. He was actually going to do it, summon a real evil witch. The orange haired girl was fearful right now. An evil spirt from years ago was about to be summed right before her and she'd couldn't do a damn thing about it. She couldn't even run if she wanted to!

Similar thoughts were obviously going through her fellow Hex Girls minds too, as she felt the movement of both Thorn and Dusk shivering in response to the writer's words to.

"Dreadful darkness, hear my cry. Bring back one, who cannot die." read Ben Ravencroft throwing his head back in the air as he read the last three words, obviously invigorated by his new found power and the thought of summoning his ancestor back to their world.

Then out of nowhere a blue and green van with "Mystery Machine" painted on its side in orange paint came round the corner before sliding to a stop and throwing dirt and gravel into the air, dousing the ring of fire around Fred, Daphne and Velma and causing Ben Ravencroft to stop reading the spell because he had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by the oddly painted van.

The back doors of the van were then swung open and whilst, from the angle she was forced to stand at, Luna couldn't see who had opened the doors she couldn't see a very angry writer. For the first time since meeting him the orange haired keyboardist was glad Ben Ravencroft's attention was not on her.

Luna heard Daphne say "Are we ever glad to see you." as she climbed in the van alongside Fred and Velma. Within a second of them climbing in the van's doors were slammed shut and the vehicle began to speed away as fast as if it had just seen a ghost…which it would have if it had been a couple seconds later arriving.

"So the two cowards came back…for them." muttered Thorn under her breath, obviously annoyed and frustrated that they hadn't been rescued too.

"They did?" asked Luna questioningly as Ben Ravencroft shot a ball of green energy after the van, which missed and instead hit and broke in half a large oak tree.

"Who else do you think would have been driving?" said Dusk, her voice quiet and reminding Luna of the days when the drummer had been very timid.

"Oh, good point." replied Luna, feeling a little stupid that she'd ever asked the question as Ben Ravencroft ran past the three of them at an almost inhuman speed. No doubt also caused by the powers he had given himself, as she doubted the writer was that athletic.

Then both Ben Ravencroft and the van, or rather Mystery Machine as the lettering had implied, was gone from their view. All they could see now was the destruction the writer had left behind, several of the renactment Puritan village buildings and Mr. McKnight and Mayor Corey in the stocks near the old stone wall. Whilst they could hear the sound of the Mystery Machine's engine and explosions, no doubt from more of Ben Ravencroft's energy shots.

The Mystery Machine come careening round the corner, skidding around due to two flats tires, with Ben Ravencroft running behind it. The van drove past the three Hex Girls, allowing Luna to get a look at who was driving. Sure enough it was Shaggy with Scooby Doo seated next to him, the two cowards had come back after all.

And Scooby Doo had Sarah Ravencroft's spellbook between his paws! There was still hope yet!

"Where the hell are they driving?" asked Thorn, Luna feeling the black and red haired girl tense as she spoke. The keyboard player quickly saw why, the van was heading right towards the stocks where Thorn's farther and the mayor were trapped.

Then at the last second it swerved kicking up a ton of dirt and dust and narrowly missed the stocks, instead heading off to the left of them through a turkey pen and past Ben Ravencroft. Thankfully once the cloud of dust dissipated the two trapped men were revealed to be unharmed, causing Thorn to untense and let out a sigh of relief.

The writer then fired yet another shot at the Mystery Machine, popping two more of its tires. The van continued to skid and slide, barely under control, before it came to a stop next to the pair of stocks. Luna guessed the van's engine had gone bust, considering noise had ceased coming from the vehicle and its lights had turned off.

Ben Ravencroft then landed on the front of the van causing Luna to jump in surprise. The writer had appeared out of nowhere.

"I'll take that." said Ben Ravencroft, his voice containing annoyance as he grabbed the spellbook out of Scooby Doo's paws before doing a back flip through the air and landing a few metres away on the ground. The writer then put his arms out to each side, summoning the spiral dusty wind from earlier. "Now, where was I?" asked rhetorically as he flipped through the spellbook's pages, smiling with evil satisfaction as he found the correct page.

"Dreadful darkness, hear my cry. Bring back one who cannot die." said Ben Ravencroft with a manic evil grin of his face as he raised the spellbook in the air as he read the spell, causing a tornado of dark grey wind and crackles of green energy to come flying up into the air out of the book.

Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy then all climbed out of the van and ran over towards the spellcasting writer, presumably in an attempt to stop him. Luna had to admire their bravery…even if it was a bit pointless considering there was no way they'd reach Ben Ravencroft before he finished his spell.

"Let the witch who perished here, live again and reappear!" finished Ben Ravencroft with his arms held skyward. All of a sudden a couple beams of green energy flew randomly from the tornado, one landing in front of Mystery Inc. and causing it to shatter and upheave from the ground sending the four people and one dog flying away from the writer and into the wall of a nearby wooden Puritan house.

Luna shivered in fright alongside her fellow Hex Girls as Ben Ravencroft laughed in an evil mad fashion as a screech filled the air as two spiralling gusts of wind spun together and shot forward to form a wicked ghostlike face, which was revealed to be what was screeching. The ghostlike face then split apart into two spiralling gusts of wind again which flew backwards and began to spin back together, forming a mini spinning top like tornado above the laughing writer.

The tornado then slowly stopped spinning and revealed the glowing white form of a long haired woman wearing an old tattered looking long sleeved dress and a necklace, the dully red gemstone centrepiece of the necklace being the only piece of her attire which contained any colour. The wind blew her hair around in a fashion which made it looked like they were the tentacles of an octopod coming out from the back of her head. The hair framed an almost skeletal face, which if it wasn't for the mild red of her lips would have been entirely ghostly white, and not in the good way. Two piercing black eyes looked out from within the sockets, their gaze focused intently on the world before her as she descended to the ground, causing Luna to shake in fright as the undead being did so.

This was Sarah Ravencroft.

"In my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined such an imposing creature." said Ben Ravencroft to his ancestor, smiling in a mixture of awe, happiness and respect as he motioned to her floating form.

"Thank thee. Thou canst not know what my bondage hath been like." replied Sarah Ravencroft, gratitude in her ancient voice and the smile on her death masklike face. The undead being then motioned to the writer with her pointy, bony, pale hand and asked "Who art thou?"

"Ben Ravencroft, your descendant from the modern world." answered Ben Ravencroft happily with a genuine and non-mad smile on his face. The writers left arm still tight around the spellbook.

"Modern?" said Sarah Ravencroft questioningly as she looked around the area. "Not much seems to have changed." Despite the situation Luna found it hard not to laugh at that comment. Obviously bringing back a long dead person into a replica village of the time period she was from wasn't the brightest idea Ben Ravencroft had ever had.

"Please don't hurt us." said Mayor Corey as Sarah Ravencroft's gaze game to rest on the two stocks. The mayor's voice was usually timid as he shoke in fear next to Mr. McKnight, not that Luna was at all surprised given the current situation.

"The same pathetic peasants grovelling for their puny lives." observed Sarah Ravencroft, amusement clear in her otherwise evil dominating tone.

"But." began Ben Ravencroft as he reached upwards to take the undead witch's hand. However his ancestor merely hit his hand out of the way in response.

"Sarah, I want to become more powerful, like you." said Ben Ravencroft, his voice filled with awe, respect and…was that desperation Luna caught in the writer's voice?

Sarah Ravencroft merely laughed in amusement in response before pointing at her descendant, her bony fingering pointing directly at his heart. "Thou jest."

"But it was I who released you." said Ben Ravencroft in annoyed frustration as he put his hands out to each side in emphasis. "You should serve me." he demanded, obviously not used to someone refusing any kind of advance by him.

"I serve no one!" declared Sarah Ravencroft in an offended and outraged response, her smile vanishing and being replaced with a scowl as she put her hand to her chest. "Leastwise a worm like thee." The spectre then calmed down, removing her hand from her chest before continuing. "Aye, thou hast freed me so now I can punish the world for my long imprisonment." The undead witch's hands coiled in fists as she spoke.

Sarah Ravencroft then stuck her left arm out and shot a dark green, mouldy looking beam out from her hand. The beam became gas like a few seconds after leaving the witch's hand, allowing it to float haphazardly in the direction it had been fired. Instantly rotting the trees and plants it touched as it floated along. "I shall create an era of darkness over this land." stated the witch before laughing in mad satisfaction as each Hex Girl shivered in fright at the thought of what would happen to each of them if they came in contact with that poisonous gas.

"Ahhh!" Luna heard both Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight say, presumably having the same shocking thoughts the moon obsessed musician was having.

"This isn't what I envisioned. We were supposed to rule the world together." said Ben Ravencroft, a hint of panic in his confused voice before his tone changed to one of annoyance as he continued speaking. "Not destroy it!"

"I care not for thy whims." replied Sarah Ravencroft as she lent down to look at Ben Ravencroft. "Cross my path and I shall destroy thee along with thy world." The undead witch pointing threateningly at her descendant as she said her threat.

"But I have the book." said Ben Ravencroft in reply as he held her spellbook up so his ancestor could see its cover, his voice one of frustrated annoyance. "And I will return you back into the book." declared the writer before he opened the spellbook and began to read from it. "Ancient evil, get thee hence. All that's good…"

However Ben Ravencroft was interupted by the mocking amused laughter of his ancestor, who was laughing as if she hadn't seen anything that funny in years...which in a way she hadn't.

"Thinkest thou art a Wiccan." said Sarah Ravencroft as she leant forward and pointed at her descendant mockingly. "Only a virtuous soul can imprison me."

Wait only Wiccan can imprison thought Luna in surprise, looking over at Thorn. The black and red haired girl was a Wiccan! Then again she wasn't a full blood one...but there was still some hope!

The undead witch then shot a beam of green energy at Ben Ravencroft which knocked the writer backwards, causing him to yell in surprise and drop the spellbook in the process. The green energy then surrounded the writer, forming a spherical glowing green transparent prison, and floated up into the air with Ben Ravencroft trapped inside it.

"Let me out!" shouted Ben Ravencroft as Sarah Ravencroft merely laughed in evil amusement as she hovered nearby, her spellbook lying on the ground before her.

"Well…at least that's one evil spell caster out of the way." said Luna, trying to be slightly optimistic about the situation…optimistic on the outside at least. On the inside her thoughts were all worried and panicked, but she didn't want to appear that way in front of Thorn and Dusk. She really wanted to reassure them in some small way that everything would turn out all right, but given their current situation she really doubted it would.

"One down, one to go." joked Thorn in reply.

Fred then shouted, something, which Luna couldn't quite hear over the wind, at Sarah Ravencroft before running away from the undead witch alongside Daphne and Velma.

"Thy shall pay for thine impudence!" shouted Sarah Ravencroft in anger before flying after them, an enraged expression on her face. Luna guessing whatever the blonde had shouted at her had been some kind of insulting remark.

"Well they're fucked." commented Dusk.

Fred and Daphne ran through the pumpkin patch, which had been specially planted to make the Puritan village feel authentic, whilst Velma ran round a tree and headed back towards the three restrained musicians. Hopefully she was coming back to untie them.

However Luna's hope was crushed when she saw Sarah Ravencroft hover by the pumpkin patch before zapping it with yet another beam of green energy, this time bringing three pumpkins to life (ok plants are already alive, but you get what I mean) and giving them evil menacing faces. Two of the vegetables headed straight ahead after Fred and Daphne whilst one doubled back after Velma, screeching as it did so.

The orange haired got a pretty good close up look at the pumpkin as Velma ran past the three Hex Girls, the pumpkin close on her heels. It was hideous. The pumpkin had a big jagged dementedly smiling mouth and two large menacing yellow eyes. Lines coming off the tops of the eye sockets making the creature appear as if it had arched eyebrows, making it look even more evil.

"Do you think she's going to be ok?" asked Dusk, worried concern in her voice.

Neither of her fellow Hex Girls replied as they were too focused on watching Velma flee from the orange vegetable, Thorn even going so far to uncomfortably crane her neck around to see the scene unfold. The short orange clad girl was running directly towards a tree, a few more steps and she'd collide directly with it. Then at the last second she turned and ran off to the right, avoiding collision. Unfortunately, well unfortunately for the pumpkin, it did not have such quick reactions collided against the tree that it split apart and fell to the ground, an orange gooey substance spilling out of its shattered remains.

Each of the Hex Girls let out a small cheer at the sight. You had to celebrate what any victory you got, no matter how small.

Velma was panting heavily next to the tree when Sarah Ravencroft hovered into view and shot a fireball directly at the tree, cracking it down the middle and barely missing harming the bespectled girl. Velma immediately fled as the tree burnt behind her.

Luna then noticed out of the corner of her eye that Shaggy and Scooby had headed over and picked up the spellbook, lying front of the imprisoned Ben Ravencroft who kept shouting "Help me!" "Let me out!" and "Nooooo!" over and over again.

"The book cannot help thee." said Sarah Ravencroft as she spun around to face the lanky duo, seemingly having sensed that someone had come into contact with her spellbook.

"Ahhhh!" yelled both Shaggy and Scooby Doo as they ran away at a speed only rivalled by how quickly they'd run when they'd first me Thorn, Dusk and Luna.

Sarah Ravencroft merely shot a beam of green energy at a nearby turkey which was calmly strolling out of its damaged enclosure, shouting "Do my bidding, bird!" ash she did so. Then as the turkey spasmed on the ground, green energy crackling all around it, the undead witch shouted "Get them!" before the turkey suddenly grew to a ginormous size.

Luna could feel her mouth hanging open in surprise at the sight. The turkey was now as big as one of the wooden Puritan houses, if not bigger! It was like those giant extinct terror birds she'd seen in a book Alastair had shown her once!

The giant turkey then charged at Shaggy and Scooby, letting out an angered squawk as it did so. The cowardly duo quickly turned and ran for their lives, quite literally, in response. Thankfully Sarah Ravencroft's spellbook was still being clutched tightly by Shaggy in his hands and well out of the hands of the wicked banshee herself.

Sarah Ravencroft merely cackled in evil as the duo ran from the giant bird, obviously finding amusement in the terror she was causing. The old hag definitely hadn't lost her touch despite the few hundred years she had been imprisoned for.

Then Luna froze as the undead witch leant down and peered at the three of them, appearing to have only just noticed them right then.

"We're stuffed." muttered Dusk as the banshee hovered over to the three of them.

"Who art thee?" asked Sarah Ravencroft, an expression of interest on her death masklike face. "And why art thou tied to that pole?" Luna just shivered in response along with her fellow Hex Girls, each of them terrified to now by the focus of the witch's attention.

"We're Thorn, Dusk and Luna." answered Thorn somewhat defiantly, or at least as defiantly as a person could sound whilst they were shivering in fear.

"And it was that descendant of yours who bound us to this pole." answered Luna, inspired to speak by Thorn's defiance.

"Then later he shalt be made to pay for his vile impudence." declared Sarah Ravencroft, briefly glancing over her shoulder at Ben Ravencroft.

"Huh." said Dusk, her confusion overriding her fear. Luna was confused to, why on Earth would Sarah Ravencroft care why they had been bound to the pole. Let alone why would she want to punish the writer for doing so even though it appeared to be something the banshee herself would happily do.

"Why do you care?" asked Thorn in confusion.

"A witch looks out for thy fellow sister. Doth she not?" answered Sarah Ravencroft, a confused expression appearing on her death masklike face.

"Witches?" replied Dusk questioningly, puzzled by the undead witch's comment.

"Of course, thou aren't doing much to hide thee fact." said Sarah Ravencroft disapprovingly. "Thou must be more subtle if thou do not wish to end up imprisoned like I was."

Luna got it now! Sarah Ravencroft had, due to their appearances, mistaking the three of them for witches. Hence why she cared as to why they had been bound and was talking to them in a friendly manner…well friendly for an evil undead witch. It would have been amusing if not for their current situation. Looks like the witch gimmick was working very well indeed!

"Ah of course, how silly of me and my sisters." responded Luna, playing along and earning confused glances from Thorn and Dusk. The orange haired girl then whispered to them "She thinks we're witches. Just play along."

"Oh." whispered back Thorn in understanding.

"Still I imagine thou might still be the focus of attention anyway." continued Sarah Ravencroft, whom had not noticed them whisper to one another. "Given thy beauty."

Luna felt slightly flattered by that comment, even if it had come from an undead evil creepy looking witch. Of course given the current situation the comment came across more out of place than flattering.

"Ummm thanks." replied Thorn, doing her best to play along. "You look exquisite too, Sarah"

"I thank thee for thy kind words." replied Sarah Ravencroft with a friendly smile, that creeped Luna out. That face was not made for friendly smiles at all. The witch then stared at Thorn, causing the black and red hair girl to shuffle awkwardly in response.

"Hmmm thou remind me of someone." commented Sarah Ravencroft, abet more to herself than Thorn. The undead witch tapped her chin as she looked deep in thought, speaking aloud to herself as she did so. "Now who was it?"

"Emegene? No she was a blonde."

"Margret? No she had brown eyes."

"Was it…no it couldn't be. She was a Wiccan."

Then the banshee was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of a bang nearby. Without a word the wicked banshee flew off in that direction, leaving the three Hex Girls behind and surprisingly unharmed."

"A Wiccan?" said Dusk questioningly.

"Maybe she was reminded of an ancestor of Thorn's." suggested Luna.

"I guess that's possible. My mother's side of the family, the Wiccan side, has lived in Oakhaven since it was founded." replied Thorn, pride easily noticeable in her voice as she spoke about her family.

"Maybe an ancestor of yours was one of the witches who originally imprisoned Sarah Ravencroft." suggested Dusk excitedly; seemingly less scared now that the undead witch and her monsters had gone out of sight.

"Like that happened." replied Thorn divaishly, though despite the guitarist brushing of the suggestion Luna could tell that Thorn quite liked that idea.

"It's certainly possible if your mother's side of the family lived here so far back." said Luna.

"I guess." replied Thorn, though Luna noticed that the black and red haired didn't appear to be fully listening to her. However the moon obsessed musician soon saw why.

Daphne and Velma were hurrying over in their direction, and they weren't being pursued by any undead witch or hideous monster! Finally they were saved!

The purple and orange clad girls immediately began untying the yawn which bound the three Hex Girls to the wooden pole, not even pausing to say hello.

"Hurry!" said Thorn urgently, as a crash was heard in the distance.

Then shortly after Daphne and Velma finished untying the yawn and allowed the three Hex Girls to finally step away from the pole and take in a deep breath of air, able to do so now that they were no longer constricted so tightly around their chests.

"Thanks." said Thorn, turning to face Velma.

"I am outta here." said Luna, her voice agitated as she raised her hand briefly in thanks to Daphne as she walked past her beside Dusk.

"Yeah, that witch is the real thing!" said Dusk, putting her hands up and shaking them in emphasis as she went pass Daphne. Both the drummer and keyboard player then began to pick up their pace and began running from the area, hearing the sound of Thorn's high heels hitting the ground behind them.

Or at least they did before the sound stopped.

"Wait Thorn!" said Velma urgently. Luna glanced over her shoulder as she ran, seeing that the bespectled girl had grabbed a hold of Thorn's arm and been the cause of the guitarist stopping running. "We need your help."

"Me? What can I do?" Luna heard Thorn ask, the black and red haired girl putting her hand to her chest as she said "I".

The orange haired musician didn't hear the rest though as she turned around to see where she was going as she ran beside Dusk and away from the area Sarah Ravencroft was causing terror and chaos in. Luna felt a bit bad leaving Thorn behind but she wasn't willing to stick around any longer in witchville! Besides it was Thorn's choice to stay behind, she could have easily dislodged Velma's grip and continued running with them if she had wanted to.

Dusk then ducked into a nearby mock barn, Luna following close behind the blonde. The two gothic musicians collapsed to the ground in a soft pile of hay, breathing in and out quickly as they caught their breaths. Luna was pretty sure she'd never run so fast in her entire life!

"It's so nice to actually be able to breath properly again" said Dusk in between pants.

"Yeah it is." replied Luna, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. It'd only just dawned on her how tired she was. So much had happened so far in a single night and it wasn't even over.

"Tired?" asked Dusk, rolling over onto her side to looking at Luna.

"What do you think?" replied Luna jokingly, Dusk merely laughed in response before standing up and heading over to the barn's entrance, peering her head round the corner of it curiously. The keyboard player joined the drummer shortly after, her curiosity getting the better of her.

What she could see wasn't a reassuring sight.

Shaggy was restrained by the stems of two living pumpkins, identical in look to the ones Luna had seen earlier, and stood no chance of getting free from their tight grips even as he struggled against them.

Scooby Doo was being held by a tree which presumably had been brought to life (again plants are already alive, but you get what I mean) by Sarah Ravencroft, two of its branches holding the dog as if it had arms. The tree had a pair of yellow eyes and a jagged mouth which were quite similar to the eyes and faces of the pumpkins.

Daphne was restrained by a tree root which was coiled around her tightly like a snake, binding her legs together and her arms tightly to her sides. Despite that the orange haired young woman was still attempting to put up a struggle.

Finally Fred was restrained and held in the air by a giant tree root, barely a couple feet from where Daphne was restrained. He was also noticeably holding Sarah Ravencroft's spellbook, no doubt the reason for why he had been captured.

Fred then chucked the spellbook over to Velma who had been standing nearby. The bespectled girl initially missed the spellbook and had to chase it as it slid along the ground before catching up to it and picking it up, and not a second to soon as five small roots came out of the ground to grab the book a split second later.

Velma then ran over to Thorn and deposited the book in the slightly confused guitarist's hands, opening it to a certain page and pointing to a specific section after doing so. The orange clad girl also said something but Luna couldn't make what she said out from how far away she was standing.

Then all of a sudden five big tree roots shot up from the ground around Thorn and Velma, causing both Dusk and Luna to gasp in surprise. The roots were all poised and curled to dive down and grab their two friends.

"Ah ha ha ha ha hah!" laughed Sarah Ravencroft in the distance as she hovered past the restrained form of Shaggy, her loud evil voice been easily heard even though the undead witch was so far away. "The book is useless to a mere mortal!" she said tauntingly, pointing at Thorn as she did so.

Another root then shot up from the ground and went to grab Thorn, only for the spellbook to glow blue and zap the root with a beam of blue energy which caused it to disintegrate into a pile at the Wiccan's feet as Velma said something to her.

"Nay!" said Sarah Ravencroft with a swipe of her claw-like hand, obviously angered by Thorn unwittingly destroying a piece of one of her 'creations'.

"I'll stop thee myself!" declared the wicked banshee as she leant forward and put her arms out for emphasis, an expression of pure anger on her face.

Sarah Ravencroft then launched herself forward and flew towards Thorn and Velma at a break neck speed. Luna could feel her heart beating quickly in her chest at the sight, her body tensing as she could do nothing but watch the events unfold before her.

Velma then pointed at Sarah Ravencroft's spellbook and quickly said something to Thorn, the bespeckled girl's mannerisms urgent as she grabbed Thorn's arm and leant close to the black and red haired girl. Thorn then began reading from the spellbook, Luna still unable to hear what Thorn was saying due to the distance between them.

But whatever the Wiccan was reading was having some effect because sparkles of blue energy began appearing around the spellbook, causing both Thorn and Velma to reel back in surprise briefly. Sarah Ravencroft quickly closing the gap between her and the two girls as Thorn continued reading, her voice raising in emphasis and allowing Luna to hear the final line of the spell.

"Witch return from whence you come!" finished Thorn confidently, just as Sarah Ravencroft reached her and grabbed the spellbook. Though that didn't appear to faze the Wiccan as she looked straight into the death masklike face without a hint of fear on her own.

The undead witch grip was tight on her spellbook as she screamed in pain as blue light shot out of the tome in all directions. Sarah Ravencroft reeled back in pain and continued to scream into the night sky before being thrown far from the book, landing with such force that she knocked a cloud of dust and dirt into the air.

The spellbook then began to spasm in Thorn's hands, eventually causing her to lose her grip on it and drop it on the ground as she reeled back and grabbed Velma's shoulders in surprise. The book continued to have blue sparkles around it as it slid across the ground away from the two girls for a few seconds. The sparkles spun around quickly forming a kind of blue spherical shield over the spellbook.

The five roots poised above Thorn and Velma then began to rapidly flash blue as they gradually began to rot and disintegrate.

The tree the roots had come from glowed the same shade of blue. Its eyes and mouth got sealed up by bark and the branches returned to their upright, non-arm like positions, releasing Scooby Doo in the process and causing the dog to fall comically upside down onto the ground.

The two pumpkins binding Shaggy also glowed blue as well. Their faces had looks or horror and surprise on them as their vines unwound themselves from around the hippy, causing them to fall onto the ground and splatter into pieces.

The spellbook then began to slide across the ground at a quick pace towards the weakened Sarah Ravencroft, whom upon seeing the book hovered and began flying away from it quickly. But the undead witch was not quick enough as her spellbook quickly gained on her.

"Nooooo!" screamed out Sarah Ravencroft, her glowing blue spellbook only a few feet from her.

The spellbook then hovered up into the air as it flew along behind the wicked banshee. A beam of blue light then shot from within it and 'grabbing' on to the end of the spirit, pulling her towards it as she screamed out in terror and desperation.

"Nooooo! Not again!" screamed out Sarah Ravencroft. Meanwhile the book didn't just appear to be pulling the undead witch towards it. The green spherical prison of energy containing Ben Ravencroft had hovered over towards the spellbook as well.

"Yah!" let out Ben Ravencroft in surprise as the green sphere dissipated and dropped him on the ground a little bit in front of Sarah Ravencroft, who had now been pulled halfway into the book.

The startled writer then began to crawl away, only for his undead ancestor to reach out and grab his right leg tightly with one of her bony hands. She then began to slowly, but surely, drag him towards her.

"No!" screamed out Ben Ravencroft, his voice filled uncharacteristic terror as was his face as he looked over his shoulder at the infuriated death masklike face of the witch who was being imprisoned him.

"I won't go back alone!" declared Sarah Ravencroft, her grip not easing up on Ben Ravencroft's right leg as he flailed in a mixture of desperation and terror. The spellbook then began to shine more brightly causing the undead witch to quickly sink into it…resulting in her dragging her descendant towards it in the process.

"Nooooo!" shouted Ben Ravencroft in terror as he was pulled into the book, fear visible on his face even from where Luna was standing. She couldn't help but shiver in fright. His face…his terrified fear filled face was going to haunt her nightmares for years to come.

But almost as soon as the writer had begun screaming he was gone along with his ancestor, the blue light which sucked them both into the spellbook vanishing as it snapped shut and its clasped locked back into place.

Silence instantly descended upon the area.

Then as Thorn, Velma, Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby Doo approached the spellbook Dusk and Luna came out of the barn they had been hiding in, each of them heading over towards the stocks where Mr. McKnight and Mayor Corey were still imprisoned. The moon obsessed musician saw a burning branch land on the spellbook, instantly setting it alight with flame.

Burning away the Ravencroft line once and for all...

If it hadn't been some the somber feeling Luna would have found it funny how the two them had both had the same thought to go release the two men without communicating with each other.

Despite the two gothic musicians arriving at the stocks and beginning to unlock and release them, both Mr. McKnight and Mayor Corey said nothing. Both of them were just starring dead ahead at the site where the spellbook was burning. Each of them looking unhappy and depressed.

Not that she could blame them, thought Luna as she began to fiddle with the lock on the stock imprisoning Mr. McKnight. The two men were both imprisoned and betrayed by an old and close friend. A friend who they had just watched disappear and…well die before their eyes.

Mayor Corey merely sighed as Dusk released him from his stock, stumbling off with a tired lost look on his face, whilst Mr. McKnight simply sighed in relief at being released. He then nodded his thanks to Luna before walking over to stand by the Mayor, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so.

Luna then heard Thorn gasp and say "Daddy!" before running over to her farther with a big happy smile on her face. The Wiccan threw her arms round her farther's neck and resting her head on his chest as she smiled happily once she reached him.

"Are you ok?" Thorn asked as her farther put his arms around her slender waist, hugging his daughter back. Both McKnights having happy content smiles on their faces at seeing each other safe and sound after the events that had occurred that night. Luna couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"You're the one I was worried about honey. But you did it!" replied Mr. McKnight with a big proud smile on his face as he looked at his daughter, Thorn looking up at him happily as the two pulled back from their hug. "I guess you are a witch after all."

"A Wiccan Daddy. A Wiccan." corrected Thorn happily before the daughter and farther hugged each other once more.

Meanwhile Mayor Corey was rubbing his neck, no doubt sore from being stuck in the stock for so long. His expression was one of tiredness…or at least it was before he noticed the state of the Puritan village and gasped in shock.

Not that Luna blamed him. The whole mock village was a complete mess!

Most of the wooden buildings were on fire and the few which weren't were strewn across the ground in pieces. Trees, leaves and other debris (ha, an unintentional rhyme!) were everywhere along with scorch marks and small craters from the energy beams and fireballs that had been fired by the two Ravencrofts. Every prop which had previously existed was destroyed as was the contents of the gift shop and various other attractions.

"This is a disaster!" said Mayor Corey in panic as he waved his arms around. "No witch! No village! What are we going to do for our Autumn Fest?" The man was almost pulling his hair out as he turned to face all of them, stressed panic being the only description appropriate for his expression.

"Well, you still have the Hex Girls." stated Thorn as she walked over towards the mayor. Dusk walking over and standing on her left, crossing her arms and turning to her side slightly whilst Luna walked over a leant forward slightly with her left hand on her waist and her right on her right leg. Thorn turned to her side and motioned to her bandmates as they approached, smiling at the elected official as she did so.

Luna couldn't help but laugh on the inside. Even an encounter with a warlock and undead witch couldn't stop the three of them from striking cool poses.

"Ah, no offense girls." said Mayor Corey, his arms out either side of him in an apologetic gesture towards them. "But I think we need a bigger attraction." The elected official raised his arms in emphasis, before putting them down as he slumped over and looked at the ground in disappointment.

Not that Luna blamed him. The mayor had been ecstatic about the Autumn Fest for weeks upon weeks before it took place. Every time Luna had seen him, which had been quite a bit due to the fact their band was set to perform and the end of the Autumn Fest, he had been giddily talking about how it would finally put Oakhaven on the map as more than the place where the famous horror writer Ben Ravencroft was from. How it'd be the greatest thing he'd have done in his career and would solve Oakhaven's financial problems once and for all, lifting it out of dependency on money from the Selous family. It was more than just a simple weeklong event for the man. It was his project. His work of art. His…well baby in a way.

And now it was quite literally up in smoke all around him.

"Uh, Mayor." said Shaggy as he tapped the man in question on the shoulder to get his attention. When Mayor Corey turned to look at the lanky guy merely pointed forward. The mayor, Hex Girls, Scooby Doo and everyone else present looked to where the hippy was pointing.

Mayor Corey gasped at the sight before them. Trapped under the collapsed remains of a nearby house was the giant turkey!

Somehow the bird hadn't been turned back to its normal size unlike everything else the Ravencrofts had altered, as the tree and pumpkins had reverted to their previous states. However the aggression the turkey had shown earlier was gone, instead replaced by worry as it looked over at them.

"Gobble." said the turkey, startled by the sudden attention. "Gobble gobble gobble gobble."

"Hey big guy, its ok." said Thorn reassuringly as the approached the giant bird.

"Gobble gobble?" said the turkey, its gobbles almost sounding questioning as the Wiccan approached it. Once reaching it Thorn reached out and stroked its neck softly, calming the worried creature down with suprising ease.

"He…what…how?" stuttered out the mayor in surprise at the fact the turkey was still around.

"Looks like Oakhaven has its new attraction." said Daphne.

"And you can't get much bigger than this guy." joked Fred, causing everyone to laugh at the joke. Even the turkey gobbled in a fashion which could be said to be similar to laughter.

"Well, we can't just leave the poor guy stuck under there." said Mr. McKnight as he headed over and began removing a piece of debris which was trapping the giant bird.

"Right." said Fred (haha, an unintentional song reference!) as he headed over and joined in, picking up and chucking aside a rather large piece of thatched roofing.

The remaining members of Mystery Inc. and Mayor Corey then moved to join in as well, the turkey letting out what sounded like a grateful gobble. However just as Thorn began joining in and Dusk and Luna approached to help Mr. McKnight turned and put his hand out in a stop motion.

"Don't you three have a concert to rest for tomorrow?" asked Thorn's farther rhetorically, in response to how his daughter had cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Oh yeah." said Dusk, rubbing the back of her neck as she did so.

"I completely forgot." responded Luna, the events of the night having diverted her thoughts from the thought of their first proper performance tomorrow.

"You sure you have it under control?" asked Thorn, concern in her voice as she put her hand on her waist as she spoke. Luna couldn't help but smile slightly at that, the guitarist was kind to a fault.

"Don't worry about us." replied Velma, picking up and chucking aside a wooden beam with the help of Shaggy.

"Yeah, you three just make sure you get a good night's sleep." said Daphne, turning to smile at the three of them before going back to moving debris from on top of the giant bird.

"We…will." replied Dusk, yawning mid speech.

"C'mon, let's just get home." said Luna as she motioned for Dusk to follow her as she began to walk away from the crowd, her fellow Hex Girls arriving beside her a few seconds later.

They had barely walked three metres when Thorn broke the calm silence and said "I just thought of a new song!"

"Can that wait till…tomorrow." replied Dusk with another yawn mid speech, Luna leaning over to support the drummer as she slumped as she walked. Dusk looked up at her and smiled in gratitude, the lack of sleep had finally caught up with her.

"Fine, it can wait." said Thorn as she smiled over at the two of them cheekily. "But let's just say it's about a certain something the three of us are going to have plenty of nightmares about tonight."

* * *

Jack's restaurant was very different from the previous times Luna had visited it. However the change was a positive one.

When she had visited the establishment with Thorn, Dusk and Alastair before the place was almost always empty, bar the occasional some of resident popping in for lunch. But now the restaurant was filled to the brim with people, every single seat filled. Heck Jack had to put up some temporary tables near the till and even then he was barely managing to not run out of room for new customers to sit and eat at.

Luna was sitting with Thorn and Dusk at the table they usually frequented, right at the back of the restaurant below the steam train picture. Also known as Jack's VIP table, he always let them sit because he was very good friends with them and their fathers, or their grandparents in the case of Dusk. But this time it wasn't just the three of them seated at the table.

With them were Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo. It had been a bit of an effort to fit in but they'd managed it, mainly thanks to the Hex Girls's and Daphne's slender bodies taking up less room than they otherwise would have.

Luna had barely woken up and hour ago. Heck she had barely finished having a shower, putting on her clothes and applying her makeup when the doorbell had rung. When she'd opened the door she met the smiling form Velma, who had invited her to come with the rest of Mystery Inc. for lunch.

And now here she was. Sitting at a table with her two fellow goths, a group of ghost/monster hunters and their seemingly talking dog…it certainly had been an odd last 24 hours.

Still lunch had been fun. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were all quite interesting and fun people to hang out with. Plus they surprisingly took them being goth a looking a little vampire like in their stride, barely commenting on it outside of questions about their band.

Well that and the purple clad musician had quite enjoying talking with Daphne about fashion, the two of them talking at length about how purple clothes went so well with their orange hair. Even exchanging fashion tips with one another, Thorn throwing in some of her own occasionally, and generally being quite girly about purple clothing/fashion…much to the boredom of Fred, Velma, Dusk, Shaggy and Scooby.

"Well I'm stuffed." said Fred, having finished his food.

"As are we." replied Daphne, speaking both for herself and Velma.

"How about you girls?" asked Fred, directing the question the Hex Girls.

"I'm good." answered Thorn.

"As am I." answered Luna in agreement.

"Yeah, same here." answered Dusk, not paying too much attention to Fred.

"Well sounds like we're all finished then." stated Fred as he reached into his pocket to get his wallet. "Bar Shaggy and Scooby."

The hippy and dog in question busy devouring their respective large bowl vanilla ice-cream. Shaggy just smiled over at them.

"Me and Scoob can just stay behind to finish this." suggested Shaggy, obviously not wanting them to have to wait purely because of him and the dog. "We can catch up with you later easily enough, right Scoob?"

"Right Rhaggy" replied the dog, his mouth and nose coated with vanilla ice-cream in a comical fashion. Luna couldn't help but smile, Scooby was amusing his own way. Dusk obviously agreed with her as she giggled at the dog's antics, then again the drummer giggled at Shaggy's antics throughout lunch as well. Heck Dusk had giggled at almost everything Shaggy had said…quite odd behaviour for the drummer.

"You sure?" asked Daphne.

"Yeah, don't wait just because of us." answered Shaggy, brushing the redhead's concern off before he dug back into his ice-cream.

"Well looks like we're ready to leave them." said Fred as he stood up from his seat, being seated on the side closest to the aisle.

"We sure are." replied Luna as she began scooting round the seat after Velma and Daphne had stood up and cleared the way for them to get out of the booth and stand up. Dusk notably made no effort to get up from her current position.

"You coming Dusk?" asked Thorn questioningly.

"No, I'm going to stick around for a bit. Since ummm" answered Dusk awkwardly, trying to think up a reason. "Since I'm still tired from what happened last night."

"Ah ok then, we'll catch up with you later then." replied Luna, not buying the drummer's excuse for staying behind.

"Fine. Just make sure you're at the stage on time." replied Thorn, her voice divaish as she turned to walk over towards the till.

Luna then remembered an idea Thorn had brought up with her and Dusk and they headed back home after the witch's ghost incident the night before.

"You two better be there as well." said Luna, pointing at Scooby and Shaggy as she said you.

"Yeah you three to." added Dusk as she pointed divaishly at Fred, Daphne and Velma. Luna noticing that the drummer had seemingly moved closer to Shaggy whilst they'd been talking. Which was odd, Dusk was never that friendly with new people…

"W..why?" questioned Daphne in confusion, snapping Luna from her thoughts as she noticed the other members of Mystery Inc. sharing Daphne's confused expression.

Thorn merely smirked as she turned back around to answer them, her long black and red hair swishing behind her as she did so.

"Because you three are preforming our last song with us." answered Thorn with a smile. "Considering it thanks for saving Oakhaven."

"But you were the one who read the spell." said Velma to the Wiccan, her voice noticeably quiet to ensure other customers didn't hear them.

"Yeah but you five were the ones to bring the spellbook to me." said Thorn, defending her previous statement.

"And Daphne and Velma were the ones to untie us." added Dusk.

Luna was about to joke that Mystery Inc. also had been the ones to lead Ben Ravencroft to his ancestor's spellbook in the first place, which caused all the trouble, however she decided against it. It wasn't their fault, everyone had been deceived by Ben Ravencroft. The moon obsessed musician was still surprised herself that the friendly, civil and kind horror writer had ended up being so evil in the end.

Plus she wanted to move on from talking about the witch's ghost incident. It still sent shivers down her spine remembering it. She'd already had a bad night's, or at least what remained of the previous night after everything had happened, sleep because she had a nightmare about Ben Ravencroft being pulled into the spellbook by Sarah Ravencroft.

Except in her nightmare it wasn't Ben who was the one being pulled into the spellbook.

It was her.

Thankfully Jack then showed up, distracting the orange haired young woman from the memories of her horrific nightmare.

"So you all done here then?" asked Jack friendlily with a great big smile on his face.

"Sure are Jack." answered Daphne.

"Bar Shaggy and Scooby, who are just finishing up." added Fred with a smile as he motioned to the hippy and dog.

"That's fine, always have space for my best customers!" said Jack, turning to beam at the two ever hungry sleuths who smiled back at him before turning back to ravenously eating.

"Who's covering the charge for their meal here yesterday Jack?" inquired Velma, as Shaggy devoured another huge chunk of ice-cream. "Since you know Ben Ravencroft dis…disappeared in the fire last night."

That was the official explanation Mayor Corey had given out for the destruction of the Puritan village and the disappearance of Ben Ravencroft. A horrible fire had broken out and despite the efforts of the mayor, Mr. McKnight, Ben Ravencroft, the Hex Girls and a group of ghost hunters who had been in the area at the time it could not extinguished in time to save the Puritan village and Ben Ravencroft perished during it.

Thankfully the townspeople and tourists had bought it. Even though the explanation didn't account for as to how the mini impact craters, from each of the Ravencroft's fireballs and energy beams, had appeared in and around the Puritan village.

They'd also bought the explanation as to how and why there was a giant turkey now in Oakhaven. The how being genetic engineering, the perfect lie really, and the why being that it was meant to be a surprise for the last day of the Autumn Fest.

"Albert Selous has stepped in, insisted paying for the whole thing when he heard what happened to Ben." answered Jack, his happy smile briefly disappearing at the mention of the writer's demise. Or rather the explanation of the writer's demise he had been given since Jack had no idea about Ben Ravencroft's dark secret. "He's stepped in to pay off any debts Ben Ravencroft would have had."

"Gee, what a great guy!" said Shaggy, his mouth filled with ice-cream and causing Luna to become a little sickened at the sight.

"Sure is." said Jack, his happy smile back on the very round man's face.

"Sounds like he's a bit of a food lover too." joked Daphne, causing everyone present to begin laughing.

* * *

Luna was exhausted as she sat down on the edge of the stage next to Dusk, relishing the silence which had descended upon the grassy spot where the stage was situated. She'd really enjoyed their concert, as had the tourists and townspeople, but it was to hear silence again as she let the rush of performing fade away. It had been some of the most fun she'd ever had in her entire life.

The three of them had all been nervous at first. After all it was their first proper performance. They were preforming in front of a big crowd, not just Mystery Inc. and Ben Ravencroft like the night before or Alastair and their parents in a basement. What if the crowd didn't like their music?

Thankfully though the crowd had loved each and every single performance of every song, though Luna bet Thorn's seduction movements were an extra part of why many guys had enjoyed it. Surprisingly several of their former classmates had come up to them after and congratulated/praised their performance, as had several fairly important citizens of Oakhaven like Jack and Mr. Yates. It was just so nice being appreciated and making people enjoy themselves like that.

Plus judging by the mood in the crowd at the end where Mayor Corey had come on stage to bid them all farewell and thank them for coming to the Autumn Fest, many would be returning to visit once again next year.

Though now the moon obsessed musician was exhausted, both from the concert and packing their instruments up afterwards, and looking forward to heading home and getting a good night's sleep. Hopefully not having a repeat of her nightmare from the night before.

Thorn then sat down in between the two of them, an ecstatically happy smile on her face.

"That went great for our first concert!" said Thorn, before throwing her arms round their shoulders and pull them up against her. "I'm sooooo glad I met you two!"

"No need to get mushy." replied Dusk jokingly, causing the three eco-goths to laugh.

"The crowd certainly did love our songs." said Luna as Thorn released her arms from around them.

"Yeah they did. But who wouldn't?" replied Thorn with a confident smirk, her fake fangs glistening brightly in the moonlight.

"So what's next?" asked Dusk, rocking her feet back and forward against the edge of the stage.

"Well we try get know a bit more. You know do a few gigs in the local area, at stuff like clubs and events." answered Thorn, putting her finger to her chin in thought as she did so. "Make a bit of money from ticket to help fund us."

"And hope a member of some record company spots us and likes our music." added Luna.

"Maybe one did tonight!" said Dusk enthusiastically, her pigtails wiggling as she turned to look at her bandmates.

"Pfft I doubt that Dusk." replied Thorn. "The odds of a guy from a record company coming to a concert in a village like Oakhaven to scout out a band is pretty small."

"Not as small as you may think." said a middle-class British Surrey accented voice, causing the three Hex Girls to jump in surprise. The three of them hopped down off the side on the stage and onto the ground when the owner of the voice came into view, chuckling at their reaction. "Fantastic performance by the way, haven't heard new music that good in a while."

The man had neatly combed dark brown hair, blue eyes and neatly trimmed Joseph Stalin-like handlebar moustache. His skin was quite pale and complimented the black suit he was wearing perfectly, along with the dark mahogany cane he was holding in one hand. The man would have been the very picture of refinement if not for his other characteristics. He was fairly muscularly heavy built, like a bouncer, had the end of some kind of tattoo visible just below his sleeve cuff, a scar running down his left cheek, a hoop earring in his right ear and a rather rough looking face.

It was like someone had got an old fashioned businessman and a biker and smashed the two together.

"Thanks, who are you?" asked Thorn as she crossed her arms as she did so, obviously annoyed by the sudden intrusion into their conversation. "And what are you doing here?"

"Yeah the concert's over." added Dusk.

"Ah of course, where are my manners." said the man apologetically. "I'm Richard Selous, owner of several entertainment businesses including my recently acquired Decade Records. I believe you're already acquainted with my brother's side of the family? Albert and Alastair?"

"Yeah we are." answered Thorn, who Luna could tell was shaking ever so slightly. Not that Luna could blame her. This man wasn't just from a record company, he owned a record company! Not only that but he was related to Alastair's family, giving them an extra leg in with the company. It was their big chance and they did not want to screw up.

"So you're Alastair's uncle?" inquired Luna, not surprised such an odd looking man would be related to him.

"Guilty as charged. He's why I'm here actually." answered Richard Selous as he leant on his cane. "You see I got a letter from my nephew recently, and whilst it was mostly chit-chat stuff there was an interesting caviar where he mentioned a certain band he knew called the Hex Girls was going to perform at this little event and that I should check them out, that they were a band worth signing on. Of course I didn't believe him too much but since it was in Oakhaven anyway I decided I could afford to stop by, gave me an excuse to come visit my brother Albert." Richard then stopped leaning on his cane, his right eye drooping a bit in its socket. "However I've seen now that my nephew was indeed right. You three blew my expectations away spectacularly. I suppose you could say you put a spell on me." The record company owner than laughed at his own joke heartily.

"Thanks. We try our best." said Thorn, confidence in her voice as she motioned to her bandmates as she said "our."

"As I can see." replied Richard, stroking his moustache briefly before continuing. "Now I won't beat around the bush. I am indeed interesting in signing you on with Decade Records, especially since it has been lagging a tad since Jimmy Lewis retired early. Spoilt little brat…anyway are you interested in signing on with Decade Records?"

"Well we would be, but not until you give us more details." answered Thorn, her voice showing that she was certainly interested.

"Ah Alastair mentioned you weren't stupid. Sensible asking questions before agreeing to anything." replied Richard, obviously pleased by Thorn's reply. "But it's far too late now to be talking about things like contacts and the like." the Brit then stroked his moustache again briefly, a behaviour he appeared to do when he thought things over. "Since you know my brother you could pop by his house for lunch tomorrow. We could talk it all over there."

"Sounds good, right girls?" said Thorn, looking over at each of them in turn.

"I see nothing wrong with it." answered Luna.

"Yeah sounds cool." answered Dusk.

"Fantastic! I have the perfect manager in mind for you too!" said Richard excitedly, whom Luna noticed appeared to share his brother's tenancy to ramble. "And I know the perfect person to be your roadie!"

Richard Selous then began walking away from the stage, rambling ideas to himself as he went.

"Well he seemed nice." commented Luna.

"Who cares about wherever he's nice or not. We just got our big break!" declared Thorn in happy excitement, quickly pulling her fellow musicians into a tight hug. "The Hex Girls are going to be big! I just know we are!"

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ So I hope you've all enjoyed the Witch's Ghost section of It's a Hex Life. I know I have certainly enjoyed writing these past three (four if you included the end of chapter 6, since it's a scene from the Witch's Ghost) chapters. This one went on a bit though, the though Sarah Ravencroft bit took far longer to write than I estimated it would. Just kept going on and on and on!

And yes, Thorn's comment about a new song is a reference to the Witch's Ghost song which plays at the end of the movie of the same name. A song which will be making an appearance (so to speak, as it'll be mentioned it was performed rather than the lyrics listened) next chapter. Along with two characters from the two most recent (current in terms of one) Scooby Doo series , one of whom is going to be the manager for the Hex Girls and should be easy to guess...the other less so.

Oh and Decade Records and Jimmy Lewis are both references to the company and character from the SD Show episode "The Diabolical Disc Demon."

So next chapter shall be the Hex Girls meeting their roadie and manager and perform at their first big concert! Along with setting things up for the Legend of the Vampire chapters, which will come right after chapter 10 and should be a blast to write.


	10. Groovy Gothic Chicklets

**Author's Note:** So sorry this is a bit late. I wouldn't apologize usually (after all I'm writing and then putting this up for free and you all are reading it for free) but I am since I originally intended to have this chapter done by the end of August...and boy oh boy did that not happen. Though to be fair a lot did come up on my end and, to be quite honest with you all, I just haven't been in the writing mood much. Let alone a Hex Girls/Scooby Doo writing mood.

And then I noticed that it was nearing Halloween. So I sat down over the past few days and finished the last two sixths (if we divided it up by words, as it is 6400ish words) of this chapter just in time for it. Not a big fan of Halloween myself (I swear it wasn't much of a big thing when I was a kid in Britain in the 90s/early 2000s) but I always watch certain movies around that time of the year, and one of them caused the inclusion of a character I never intended to have appear at all in this fanfic at all. However her inclusion works since it hints into a little idea I have for a later chapter rolling around in my head at the moment.

Oh andapologizes to any and all Americans if my list of Boston landmarks (viewable ones from the air at least) is incorrect in any way. Unfourtunetely (like most foreigners) my knowledge of your lovely country comes from cartoons, TV shows and video games. Thus my knowledge of Boston mainly comes from Fallout 4...though to be fair I have visited there once! Abet with I was four years old...meaning I don't remember it at all bar going to an aquarium.

So Happy Halloween to you all! And happy reading!

* * *

Two years and six months after Luna's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

The walls of the office were all, with the exception one which was entirely made of glass and showed a view of the Boston skyline, made out of dark brown mahogany and were undecorated bar for their curved corners. Adorning the walls were a few pictures, most depicting great rock and pop bands of the past but a couple depicted recent bands. In each corner of the room was a generic looking office plant, each thriving no doubt thanks to regular watering. Two sleek rectangular modern ceiling lights rested above everything however at that moment in time they were dark and dull, there being no need for them to be turned on due to the illumination the window wall provided. A large comfy looking blue couch sat up against the wood wall opposite the window wall.

In the centre of the room was a heavy set oak desk with a blue marble top. A white desktop computer and monitor (think those old white ones we had in the 90s which weighed a million tons) sat at an angle on it along with a keyboard and mouse. A stack of papers and a telephone (again, an old 90s landline one) sat on the opposite side of the desk along with a small metal pot filled with pens and pencils. Behind the desk was a large comfortable looking brown leather armchair, a big Union Jack flag on the wall behind it.

Sitting in the leather chair behind the desk was Richard Selous, eagerly and quite literally writing out the contract for the three gothic musicians who were sitting in three plastic chairs on the opposite side of the desk. The Selous family member had insisted that he had write out the contract he had negotiated with them, well more so negotiated by Thorn with Dusk and Luna just occasionally making a comment or voicing their agreement on something the guitarist said, because it made it more official than just a typed out piece of paper.

The moon obsessed musician had observed that Richard's right eye drooped a bit every now and then, which she put down to being one of the many eye problems Alastair had told her plagued his farther's side of the family.

Luna gazed out of the window, slightly bored even with the magnificent view. Almost the whole of Boston could be seen out of that window. The John Hancock tower, Trinity Church, the Massachusetts State House and its golden dome, Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution were some of the sights which could be easily seen from the high vantage point.

She just wanted to get negotiating and signing the contract out of the way already. Thorn had already negotiating good terms for them, Richard Selous surprisingly let the contract favour them more than him and his company, so all they needed to do now was sign the document and they'd be done with it.

Still it was better than the day before. Along with Thorn and Dusk she had attended Ben Ravencroft's 'funeral' back in Oakhaven. She hadn't wanted to go at first, why pay respect to an evil person, but she was glad she had. Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight each spoke at the funeral about positive things about Ben Ravencroft, such as their childhood antics together and the writer's donations to the town over the years. It had been a celebration of the Ben Ravencroft that had been friendly, creative and good natured most of his life. Not the evil monster he ended his life as.

Plus it had been some good closure.

The moon obsessed musician also hadn't told her father about the Witch's Ghost incident. Luna had no proof that Sarah Ravencroft had risen from the 'grave' and that Ben Ravencroft had been an evil warlock. Besides she didn't want her father to think she was mad. Sure her father was ok with her being Goth but Luna knew he thought she was a little odd, thus she wasn't planning on telling him about out the incident any time soon.

After all she'd rather have her father think she was odd than completely loopy!

"There, all done!" declared Richard Selous, startling Luna from her thoughts. He then turned round the piece of paper and pushed it over towards their side of the desk, rolling a pen for them to sign with along with it. "Sign it at your leisure…just make sure to read it of course!"

The Brit laughed at his last remark as Luna read over the contract. Everything they negotiated was there and the fine print held no unwanted hidden surprises within it.

"Seems good to me." said Thorn, her tone please. She then reached for the pen and signed her signature on the one of three lines at the bottom of the contract,

 _Sally McKnight_

"Yeah it's good." said Dusk, whom Luna was sure hadn't read the entire contract or even more than the first sentence or two. The blonde then signed her name on the line below Thorn's,

 _Jane St. James_

"Looks fair." said Luna before she signed her name on the last line,

 _Kimberly Moss_

"Fantastic." said Richard Selous as he took back the contract and the pen, depositing the latter in the metal pen holder. He then put the contract to one side and stood up from his chair, hand outstretched towards them. "I'm looking forward to working towards great success with you three."

"As are we." replied Thorn as she reached out to shake the record company owner's hand, Dusk and Luna following suit afterwards.

"We're thankful for you giving us the opportunity." added Luna gratefully, shaking her hand a bit as she did so. Richard had a pretty tight and firm handshake.

"And I am glad to give you three this opportunity." replied Richard Selous with a chuckle, his right eye drooping slightly. He then picked up and pointed at the door with his cane in a comedically dramatic fashion. "Now, off we go to see your manager and roadie!"

* * *

After traversing the maze that was Richard Selous's Boston skyscraper, which contained offices and facilities for not only Decade Records all his major businesses, they finally arrived at their destination. Richard pushed open the door with a mere tap of his cane, motioning inwards with his other hand and saying "Ladies first."

Luna took note of her surroundings as she entered the room. It was fairly small and appeared to be a waiting or staff room of sorts for the Staff of Decade Records. The walls were painted a light mint-like shade of green, the floor was fake light wood and the ceiling was a simple clinical shade of white. Three windows adorned the wall opposite the doorway, the sights viewable from them informing the moon obsessed musician that the room was on the opposite side of the building from where Richard Selous's office had been. Below the window was a generic beige couch, looking of a far cheaper quality than the one in the aforementioned office. Another couch of an identical design was pushed up against the left wall, two record display cases adorning the wall. On the wall on the right side of the room was a piece of modern 'art', though to Luna it just looked like a child had scribbled madly…the sad thing being the piece was probably pretty expensive despite being a joke of an 'artwork'. If you could even call it art.

Lying on her back on the couch opposite the doorway was a brown haired girl who appeared to be about their age. She had pale skin and her hair was spherical in fashion, with the two bangs which fell either side of her face dyed purple. A thin bit of black eyeliner framed her black eyes and a light shade of red lipstick coating her lips. The girl was wearing a yellow long sleeved dress with three ( _or is it just one?)_ blue belts around her waist, a simple yellow choker, a pair of black knee high socks (end a bit below where her dress ended) and brown hiking boots.

Sitting on the other couch was a thin and pale black haired man wearing a purple jacket over a green long sleeved shirt (the purposely torn ends of which poked out of the jacket's sleeves), pink thin rectangular glasses, pink leather pants and a white scarf. His legs were crossed and his right hand in the air.

Or at least they were before he noticed the three Hex Girls and hopped to his feet, walking over to the three of them just as Richard Selous entered the room.

"So these are the groovy gothic chicklets you told me about Richard darling?" asked the man as he looked over the top of his glasses at the three of them. His way of speaking, tone, clothing and stance given Luna the impression that he was fabulous…so to speak.

"They are indeed Gus. Meet the Hex Girls! Thorn, Dusk and Luna." said Richard as he introduced the three gothic musicians, motioning to each of them as he said their names. "Girls this is Gus Boggs, your manager. And a damn good one at that!"

"Oh you flatter me." said Gus in response to the compliment, raising and waving his right hand slightly in a dismissive manner whilst the yellow clad girl got up from the couch and began heading over to them.

"He is a bit…fabulous, but I assure you he is indeed a good manager." Luna heard Richard Selous jokingly whisper to the three of them, Gus seemingly not noticing.

"And this here is Bond Kuro, your roadie." said the record company owner as he pointed over at the yellow clad girl with his cane. "About your ages, dependable, helpful and most of all reliable."

"Nice to meet you three." said Bond, a friendly smile on her face. Thankfully seemingly not phased in the least by the three of them being goths and thus looking as they did…then again maybe Richard had informed her beforehand.

"Nice to meet you to Bond." replied Luna, smiling back at the brown haired girl.

"As well as you Gus." added Thorn, giving a fanged smile at the fabulous manager.

"Pleasure is all mine dear." replied Gus Boggs before leaning over slightly and peering at Thorn. "But doth my eyes deceive me, that you have…fangs?"

"Yeah we do." answered Dusk, baring her fangs at the manager as she did so and causing him to jump slightly, much to the blonde's and Bond Kuro's amusement.

"They're fake. Just a gimmick for our band." explained Luna as she reached up and took her fake fangs out of her mouth and holding them up so the Gus and Bond could easily see them.

"Remarkably real. Pray tell where you acquired them?" inquired Gus Voggs, looking intently at Luna's fake fangs. "The craftsmen's shipment is exquisite."

"Luna's Dad made them for us." answered Thorn as Luna put her fangs back in her mouth, which had felt empty without them.

"He's a dentist." added Luna. Gus nodded his head in acknowledgement, seemingly satisfied with the explanation.

"Ah that's why their quality is so immaculate then." said Gus, more to himself than the three of them. "Far better than the fake fangs the guitarist in Nightmare had."

"Nightmare?" asked Dusk questioningly.

"Another band signed on with Decade Records." explained Gus. "The guitarist had a vampire thing going on, pales compared to your's of course darlings."

"Anyway." began Richard Selous, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention firmly on him. "Since you are all getting on so well I'll leave you to it, since I must be attending a meeting in a wee bit."

"With what company of your's, Sir?" asked Bond Kuro curiously, her tone of politeness.

"I've got no idea." answered her boss, giving her an amused grin as he did so. "That's what'll make it fun. The surprise and mystery of it!"

And with that the record company strolled out of the room quite happily, reminding Luna of how Albert Selous had been whenever he had left a room to attend to a business matter. She guessed the men of the Selous family just enjoyed business related things.

"Such a genius Richard is." commented Gus admirably.

"That's…well that's one way you could put it." replied Thorn as she ran her left hand through her long black and red hair.

"But alas there is much work to be done!" declared the manager, his voice filled with excitement.

"There is?" replied Luna questioningly.

"But of course. You spooky chicklets may have instruments, singing and groovy gimmick down but you need to start preforming at concerts darling!" answered Gus Boggs with a little sway as he spoke, to a musical beat no one else but him could hear.

"But that's the fun part." added Bond Kuro with a smile and a wink.

* * *

Two Weeks Later…

* * *

The past two weeks had gone brilliantly. They'd recorded their first CD, performed at several concerts where the audiences had all enjoyed their music…or drooling at the sight of Thorn, whichever the case may be and on top of all that they'd also got their own tour bus, which Luna was currently sitting in. She was leaning back on a seat in the kitchen/eating section of the bus with a boot clad feet resting upon the table, completely relaxed as the bus bounced along the New England road as it headed towards Salem, where a Halloween concert organized by Decade Records consisting of multiple bands was going to take place.

For being only two weeks into their musical career they were doing pretty damn satisfyingly well.

Across from her was Gus Boggs, lying back against his seat and snoring away as he rested his head against a cushion. Though Luna had been a bit cautious at first the fabulous man had turned out to be a surprisingly good manager. Arranging concerts and the like efficiently and keeping the three gothic musicians informed all of the time, or at least Thorn informed who in turn informed Dusk and Luna.

Then again Gus did have experience, given that he'd been the manager for a couple bands before them. One of the bands being called Sparkles…a name which perfectly fit a band you'd expect Gus Boggs to have been the manager for.

Bond Kuro, whom was currently up front past a curtain driving the bus, had been great too. She efficiently managed stage staff and always had the stages ready for them long before they had to perform. The highlighted haired girl was also always assisting each Hex Girl quite a bit with whatever they needed, be it to do with setting up instruments, cooking food or even just nipping out to buy more makeup or hair dye. The roadie was extremely reliable, never faltering or failing with anything no matter how small or big the task was whilst still retaining her happy friendly attitude. Luna had come to rely on Bond quite a bit because of that.

Then the orange haired musician's relaxation was disturbed by the sound of a door opening before subsequently being shut as the door open rounded the wall and came into Luna's vision, revealing the door opener to be none other than Thorn.

"Hi Luna." greeted Thorn, stretching her arms above her head as she let out a yawn.

"You tired?" inquired Luna in response.

"No, just a bit drowsy. Remember Dusk and I were having a nap to pass the time?" answered Thorn as she brushed a bit of her fringe back into place. "And I only just woke up."

"You weren't the only one with that idea." commented Luna, nodding over in their manager's direction.

"As I can see." replied Thorn with a disinterested glance in Gus's direction. "Any idea how long it is till we arrive in Salem?"

"No clue." answered Luna with an apologetic smile. "You'd have to ask Bond if you want to know that."

"I'll just have to go without knowing then." said Thorn dismissively as she sat on the couch seat next to Luna. "I don't want to distract her from driving."

"So you're here to distract me instead then." joked Luna, the guitarist letting out a laugh in response.

"Well I can if you want me to." said Thorn before leaning over until her head was lying in the Luna's lap, winking up at the keyboard player suggestively as her black and red hair fell perfect around her head. The Wiccan the very picture of gothic beauty.

"I'd rather you not." replied Luna, frowning down at Thorn. She was not finding her bandmate's joke funny.

"Well I'm going to anyway." said Thorn before she stuck her tongue out at Luna childishly as she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position.

The keyboard player merely rolled her eyes in response. This was going to be a long bus ride...

* * *

"Here's your room girls." said Bond as she unlocked and opened the hotel room door, stepping aside to allow the three gothic musicians to enter before her.

Luna thought the hotel room was pretty nice everything considered. Sure it wasn't exactly glamorous or expensive looking but they had just started out as musicians and such she wasn't expecting the Ritz.

It was your average small hotel room. Whitish beige walls, a brown couch with a coffee table in front of it, CTR TV, a little kitchen area including a sink, cupboards and a microwave, three pictures on different walls depicting a generic picture of a natural landscape, a second door which presumably lead to the bathroom, a wide window which gave a view of one of Salem's streets, faded beige curtains either side of said window and finally two single beds…that was going to be a bit of a problem.

"Sorry it's so small." apologized Bond once all of them had entered the hotel room. "It's just that since you're such a recent signed band I wasn't able to making a booking in advance…and it was this or staying in a motel."

"No need to apologize." said Thorn as she turned to face the roadie, her hair swishing as she did so. "You did the best you could."

"Though the number of beds is a bit of an issue." said Luna, as she too turned to face the yellow clad roadie. Abet without anyway swishing of her hair. "Given there being three of us."

"Simple solution." replied Thorn with a smirk and each of her hands on her curvaceous hips. "One of us sleeps on the couch."

"Ok then, I'll be back up with your stuff in a minute." said Bond before turning around and heading back out of the hotel room, shutting the door behind her.

"So who's going to sleep on the couch?" asked Thorn as she swivelled on her heel to face her fellow Hex Girls.

"Not me!" said Dusk as she jumped and landed on her back on the bed nearest to them. Smirking as she laid on its presumably soft blue duvet.

"I'll take the couch." said Luna as she walked over and sat down on the aforementioned piece of furniture. It wasn't her preferred choice for a bed but choosing it avoid an argument with Thorn, whom would never willingly sleep on the couch when there was the opinion of a bed nearby. And the orange haired girl knew the noise from an argument with the guitarist wouldn't go over with the hotel staff and other guests…yep it was best to just avoid conflict altogether and take the high yet less comfy road.

"Oh…" said Thorn, clearly surprised at how Luna had opted for the couch straight away, before smiling a small yet grateful smile in Luna's direction.

"Well that's settled then." said Bond as she headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" inquired Luna.

"To find us a place to eat." answered Bond, turning to face the three gothic musicians after opening the hotel room door.

"But we could just order room service." stated Thorn, her eyebrow raised in bemusement.

"Not on your first night here." replied Bond, her hands going to her hips. "Besides Gus wanted to discuss the concert with you three over a meal, and he's not the kind of guy to settle for a simple room service meal." The roadie then turned on her heel and headed out of the door, shutting it behind her on her way out.

"So what do we do now?" asked Dusk, not even bothering to try mask the boredom in her tone.

"We could watch TV." suggested Luna, reaching for the remote on the coffee table.

"And whilst you two do that I'll be having a bath." said Thorn happily before she strode off in the direction of the bathroom.

"How do you know there's a bath?" asked Dusk as she walked over to the couch and sat down beside Luna.

"Because hotel rooms always have baths." answered Thorn dismissively.

"And if this room doesn't Bond isn't going to be in for a good time." whispered Luna as she turned on the TV, Dusk giggling in response.

* * *

Fifty Minutes Later...

* * *

 _This next short bit isn't a knock at Christainity. It's just a bit of an inside joke based on an error back when I was writing the first Witch's Ghost chapter and accidently typed "wheel of Jesus" instead of "wheel of cheese" when I had originally typed it out. Thankfully I noted that error and fixed it before posting that chapter. But it sounded like the name of a gameshow, so now it is a fictional one!  
_

Luna let out a bored yawn as she and Dusk sat on the couch watching TV. At first they'd been watching an odd gameshow they found called Wheel of Jesus, which had admittedly been entertaining at first but got old pretty quick. There was after all so many times you could hear people answer trivia about the Bible and Christian history before it got boring…even if the host looked, both in terms of hair and clothing, as if he had just strolled out of the tale of Moses.

Whilst the two Hex Girls had been doing that Bond had brought up the minimal amount of luggage they had, before the yellow clad girl headed off to find a place for them to eat dinner at. Since the hotel's room service was currently experiencing kitchen problems.

Now however the two musicians were just relaxing on the couch as Dusk flipped aimlessly through the channels, each of them bored or uninterested in what each channel had to offer. In fact Luna was so disinterested in what was on TV she had taken up spending the time redoing her nail polish, overhearing bits of what was playing on each channel as her fellow Hex Girl flipped through them.

"ho do you think you are kidding Mr. Hit"

"eaking news! Boris Yeltsin has resigned and been replaced by an acting presi"

"ude Boy and the Ska-Tastics have gone missi"

Their boredom was then interupted by the hotel room door being opened by Bond, who entered the room with a smile on her face.

"I found a place to eat. A small restaurant two streets away from here." said Bond, before looking around the room in confusion. "Where's Thorn?"

"In the bath." answered Luna, more focused on applying her nail polish than what the roadie was saying.

"Oh, when will she be out?" asked Bond as she glanced over at the bathroom door.

"No idea." answered Dusk as she turned off the TV. "Thorn always takes ages when having a bath."

"As long as she takes having a shower?" asked Bond with hesitation, obviously remembering how long Thorn had spent using the tour bus's shower over the past two weeks.

"Longer." answered Luna as she continued to paint her nails.

"I can get her out quicker though!" said Dusk as she jumped up and headed over towards the bathroom door, subsequently causing to Luna to look up from her nails in curious wonder at what on Earth her blonde bandmate was going to do now.

"No that's not necessary Dusk, we can wait!" said Bond quickly as the drummer walked past her, obviously not wanting to anger one of her figurative bosses. Unfortunately for the roadie her words fell on deaf ears as Dusk advanced towards the bathroom door.

Once she reached it Dusk slammed open the door, causing the Hex Girl in the room on other side of it to let out a loud "eek" of surprise. Which was shortly followed up by a yell of "What the fuck Dusk!"

Not that Luna could blame Thorn for her outburst, given that both the bathroom door had been flung open expectantly and that the guitarist was lying nude in the bath tub. Thorn's face was rather understandably bright red as she covered her chest with her hands, which was quite ineffective at hiding her porcelain curves. Thankfully though a build-up of bubbles hid the slender lower half of the guitarist from view, making the scene a tiny tad less awkward than it would have been otherwise.

Of course that didn't mean it wasn't super awkward, not by a long shot. Bond's cheeks were glowing a light scarlet shade as she averted her gaze to the ground and Luna could feel that her own cheeks were a bit warmer than before she saw Thorn too. However unlike the roadie the moon obsessed musician did not avert her gaze.

Or at least she didn't before the mentally processed that she had been checking Thorn out. Her pale face was no doubt bright red, it certainly felt that way.

"Bond's found a place to have dinner!" yelled Dusk back at Thorn, snapping Luna from her thoughts. "So hurry the hell up!"

And with that the drummer slammed the bathroom door shut and turned around to face the two other young woman, her right eyebrow raising in a curious fashion before asking in confusion.

"What's up with you two?"

* * *

Later that night…

* * *

"To love the Earth…is our one desire!" sang Thorn as the last notes of Earth, Wind Fire and Earth were played, ending the performance with the final strums of her guitar. At which point the crowd burst into cheers.

"Thanks to all of you for coming out to the show! Happy Halloween and I hope you enjoy all the other acts which'll be on tonight!" called out Thorn to the crowd, whilst Dusk and Luna merely waved to the crowd, neither being the majorly theatric type. "With Bones Malone up next! So give it up for him!"

Then as the lights dimmed and the three gothic musicians moved to exit the stage Thorn flashed the crowd a fanged smile and called out sultrily "Oh and sweet dreams."

This naturally sent the male members of the crowd into yet another cheer, Luna distinctly making out a few wolf whistles being made as well…not that Thorn would mind. Not at all. Especially being the hedonist she was.

As they walked past the stagehands who were heading onto the darkened stage to retrieve Dusk's and Luna's instruments, Thorn's guitar being easily portable as it hung from her neck, the three eco-goths were greeted with the now familiar voice of Gus Boggs.

"Darlings you were perfect! Just perfect!" he cried as he swayed his way over to them. "Your tempo, beat and rhythm were all exquisite!"

"Thanks Gus." replied Luna, enjoying the praise.

"You're welcome darling, just speaking the truth." said Gus with a wave of his hand, before looking over to Thorn. "And you Thorn, such an en-natural performer!"

"Thanks." replied Thorn, a light blush on her porcelain features.

"As are Dusk and Luna." said Bond as she approached the three of them, a friendly smile on the roadie's face as usual.

"But of course, of course. All three of you groovy chicklets were fantastical!" declared Gus, beginning to sway and move his arms as if he were about to break into a dance.

"Anyway." began Bond, rolling her eyes at the manager's antics. "Some young woman is here to see you three. No idea who she is but she said she's a friend of someone called Alastair. Whoever that is." continued the yellow clad roadie with a shrug.

"Alastair's Thorn's boyfriend." explained Luna with a smile, hiding her confusion at an unknown person being here to see the three of them. "And a good friend of me and Dusk."

"He's the guy in the picture Thorn's always staring at on the bus." added Dusk with a smirk. Thorn's cheeks turning red at the comment as she glared at the drummer in annoyance.

"Oh so that's who he is." said Bond in realization. "Anyway she's waiting round the back of the stage off to the left of the refreshment stands." continued Bond. "You can't miss her, especially since she looks like someone right up you're spooky alley."

"Ok then." said Thorn, obviously as confused as Luna as to whom this mysterious visitor and acquaintance of Alastair could be.

* * *

It didn't take long to locate the refreshment stands, and thus also the young woman who wanted to see them. Abet she wasn't what Luna had been expecting, not at all.

The young woman had an unimaginably perfect slender yet curvaceous body that even Thorn would be envious of. A long dark purple V-neck dress hugged her body in quite a form fitting fashion, leaving little to the imagination. One of her legs was shown off by a knee-high slit on the right side of her dress, revealing that she was wearing bright red three and a half inch high heels which perfectly matched the red belt that was tight around her waist. Her light purple hair was so long that it flowed almost all the way down her back, seemingly exploding out of her head. The young woman's lips were a lascivious shade of red which again went perfectly with her high heels and belt. Her eyes were a stark dark green and her eyelids appeared to be aqua coloured, though Luna put that down to the light.

Every bit of her visible skin was a lavender colour, which the moon obsessed musician took to be purple body makeup. After all no one had purple skin.

In short the purple clad young woman before the three eco-goths was drop dead beautiful, and with a fashion sense Luna certainly agreed with colourwise. But she was beautiful in a mysterious and wild way. Something about her face was…animalistic. Her gaze made Luna feel a bit like prey, as if she was a mouse transfixed as an owl or bat glided towards it.

The keyboard player also felt as if something was stopping her from looking away from the young woman as she began to salaciously walk over to them. It was liked something was keeping her eyes glued to every movement of the woman.

Every swish of her long purple hair. Every click of her heels. Every sway of her dress. Eyes glued to all and every detail of the purple young woman.

Luna felt like she was in a trance.

"Hi girls." said the young woman once she reached the three rockstars, each of them hanging on her words. Her voice was sultry yet mysterious at the same time. She then put her hand in forward and said "It's fangtastic to meet the three of you."

Wait did she say fangtastic? Nah it was likely just Luna hearing the woman wrongly, likely due to her accent or the fact that she was tired after recently preforming.

The misinterpretation had snapped Luna out of whatever had happened to her previously, abet still leaving her in a bit of a confused daze. It was like she'd been hypnotized. The keyboard player had no idea what brought such a state on, maybe it was exhaustion from preforming? Or could have someone spiked her drink earlier?

"Err you too." replied Thorn, shaking her head as if she'd just been awoken from a trance too. She then shoke the young woman's hand and asked "But umm, who are you?"

"Oh you don't know? Alastair never mentioned me?" asked the young woman, her sultry voice containing a hint of disappointment.

"I don't believe he has." answered Thorn in confusion.

"Odd, he's told me about you before." said the young woman, before shrugging it off. "Oh well that doesn't matter, tis a minor thing." She then curtseyed refinedly before continuing "I'm Sibella, daughter of Dra…a friend of the Selous family."

"A pleasure to meet you." replied Thorn with a friendly, abet still fanged, smile. "I'm Thorn. This is Dusk and Luna." motioning either side of her to her two fellow sisters as she introduced them.

"Pleasure is all mine." said Sibella with a friendly smile, revealing that she appear to have fangs herself. Though Luna just put that down to the purple clad young woman having fake fangs in her mouth like the three of them did, after all it was Halloween. "Fangtastic performance by the way."

"Thanks." replied Luna, her focus on the praise causing her to overlook the oddity of Sibella's speech. "But umm, how do you know Alastair?"

"Oh we knew each other as kids, and have met up when our parents have had get togethers." explained Sibella sultrily, before smirking. "And he's always said quite a lot about a certain raven and red haired girl." Which naturally caused Thorn to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"Umm what did you want to see us for?" asked Dusk.

"Well other than the fact that you're utterly fangtastic rockstars Alastair requested I come check up on how you three are. Especially a very special guitarist." answered Sibella with a swish of her long purple hair. "And you're obviously all doing excellently."

"A..anyway." said Thorn, obviously wanting to move on from the subject of her boyfriend. "How does your family know the Selous's?"

"Oh I have no idea, as long as I've lived our families have known each other. My father and Alastair's grandfather are very...old friends." answered Sibella with a giggle, Luna not getting what was funny about her statement. "Though I'm glad they our families do know one another. Alastair's family is oh such a good help with keeping my father from going completely batty."

Sibella then giggled in amusement, confusing Luna a bit as she couldn't see the humour in what had been said.

"That's it?" asked Dusk, seemingly surprised at how simple the explanation had been.

"That's it Dusk." replied Sibella, salaciously turning ever so slightly to face the blonde. Which Luna noticed appeared to cause the drummer to fall into a trance-like state like she had been in earlier, eyes glued on the lavender skinned young woman before her. "Though on occasional our families have done joint business ventures…like the Vampire Rock Concert."

"Vampire Rock Concert?" asked Thorn, her tone betraying her interest and excitement at the name.

"Yes it's a competition of sorts which took place in Australia last year." answered Sibella as she turned away from Dusk, the drummer shaking her head a bit as she came out of the trance-like state she had been in. "My father was talking into having his business, Transylvanian Torches, sponsor it alongside whatever the record company was Richard Selous owns is called…the one you are signed with I believe?"

"Decade Records." said Luna.

"Ah yes bat's the one." said Sibella with a smile at Luna, dazing the keyboard player briefly. "I flew out to the concert last year. It was absolutely fangtastic."

"Sounds like something we'll have to check out." said Thorn. "Right girls?"

"Yeah." said Dusk in agreement.

"Definitely." affirmed Luna.

"Well it shouldn't be too hard for you three. After all you are signed up with the main sponsor of the event." said Sibella as she ran her left hand through her incredibly long hair before continuing. "Anyway it's been fangtastic to actually meet the Hex Girls, and the girl Alastair has told me about an exceptional amount over the years." That part causing Thorn to blush yet again. "But I best be going, as I have to fly back home to Transylvania later to go see my father."

"Well it's been lovely meeting you." said Luna with a fanged smile, her sisters following suit as they bid their own goodbyes.

"Killer in fact." added Thorn.

"Definitely." affirmed Dusk.

Sibella merely giggled in response, before flashing them a fanged smile of her own. Which Luna still put down to the purple clad young woman having fake fangs in since it was Halloween. Plus she'd implied that she was, to some extent, a fan of them so it was fairly believable that she could have bought a pair of fake plastic fangs for the occasion of meeting the three of them.

Or Alastair could have told her to bring some as a joke of sorts. Yeah that made sense; it'd be like him to try get them into thinking a friend of his could be a vampire. After all Alastair had joked once that the reason he's so pale is that he was descended from vampires.

"Pleasure was all mine." said Sibella, before she began walking past the three of them before stopping and turning to face the three gothic rockstars once more. "What was it Alastair said you three say to one another as goodbye?" questioned the lavender skinned young woman to herself, before her lips curled into a smile as she found the answer to her question. "Ah that was it."

Sibella then put her arms out before her and wiggled her fingers at the three eco-goths whilst saying "Bat dreams sisters." Before walking off giggling to herself.

Each Hex Girl watched the purple clad young woman leave in silence, the trance-like state from earlier returning. Or at least it had returned until Thorn asked confusedly.

"Wait…did she say bat dreams?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So this chapter ended up a bit shorter than the usual one, and isn't anywhere near the best in my opinion (7's my favourite chapter thus far) but it does it's job well. And what is that job you ask? Well setting up the Hex Girls as a proper band a bit more and acting as a nice interval between the Witch's Ghost chapters and the Legend of Vampire chapters, the later of which I can't wait to write as there's so much more potential and writer's freedom there!Though don't expect the next chapter too soon. I'm quite busy at the moment (curse you adult life!) and I want to finish off the three or so chapters remaining in the Addams Family fanfic I still haven't finished before I start on any new chapters on this. And of course you are all of course welcome to check out that Addams Family fanfic haha.

But in the meantime I recommend checking out Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake by WildwindVampire here on this very site! Was quite a nice fun read for me, and a fanfic I've been meaning to recommend for a bit more.

Anyway notes on new characters included in this chapter:

Anyway Gus Boggs was the manager of the Hex Girls in the Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated episode In Fear of the Phantom, abet I based his personality also off of hands down the best video game character ever. **Miror B!** Who not only has the two best boss themes in all of gaming (one the theme song Mexico wishes it had, the other summed up as disco coming back) but also as the greatest hairdo of any boss too. Plus he usually sombreo wearing pineapple ducks in battle, what is not to love about the guy?  
Oh and Miror B is fabulous just like Gus/based on the same era, thus it had sense to mix some of the all awesome Miror B into Gus Boggs. Which combined made him super fun to write!

Bond Kuro is the owner of the Star Music Hall in the Be Cool Scooby Doo episode Scream Donna, Bones Malone (who was briefly name dropped) also being from the very same episode. And I implore you to check it and all the others episodes of BCSD out. Yes I admit, the art style is quite the turn off but I assure you that under it there is a hilarious show. Helped by the fact that it's two main chaps worked on Phineas and Ferb...thus many of the side/misc characters seeming as if they walked off the set of Phineas and Ferb, through the dressing room of Gravity Falls and into the set of BCSD.

And Sibella (who is meant to be 21ish here). Well we all know what fantastic Scooby Doo movie she is from...and if your answer to that is no I'm very disappointed in you.

And reference time:

Nightmare and Sparkles are references to bands who are mentioned (Nightmare)/appear in (Sparkles) the Scooby Doo & Scrappy Doo episode "The Neon Phantom of the Roller Disco!"

"ho do you think you are kidding Mr. Hit" is a reference few people who aren't British will likely get, as it's a reference to the fantastically British comedy and all round good laugh Dad's Army! It being a reference to its famous theme song:  
"Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler if you think we're on the run?  
We are the boys who will stop your little game, we are the boys who will make you think again.  
Cause who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler, if you think old England's done?"  
And if you are British and didn't get that...well you're obviously not really that British at all then, are you?

And that's the end of this author's note. Sorry they always end up being so long and thanks for reading (and hopefully enjoying?) this chapter of It's a Hex Life!


	11. Who Do Voodoo?

_**Author's Note:**_ So first off sorry for the delay with this chapter. I wouldn't usually say as such (after all you are reading this free of charge of course) but I intended for this chapter to be out by February, but all I had got done by that point (started writing this chapter around January) was a scene an half. Most of this was written/typed over the past two weeks. I've just been coming up against writer's block quite a bit, which when combined with not having much free time (and not being in a writing mood when having said free time) has resulted in this chapter taking ages. Hopefully it lives up to the wait?

Though I did admittedly write up and upload a 4000 word Avatar: The Last Airbender One-Shot in a single day a month or two ago, takes place just after the episode Bato of the Water ribe. No clue how I kept mananged that in a single, let along how my fingers didn't die from typing that much with barely any breaks in between. So you're welcome to check that fanfic out if you're interested.

Finally I highly recommend reading HiddenWitch890's fanfics Sanctuary and History Repeating. Utterly fantastic fanfics which were actually what got me to write a Hex Girls fanfic in the first place...though you can't read that fanfic since I took it down off this site because it wasn't that great (unlike this fanfic). Don't know how I forgot to recommend them in any of the past 10 chapters author's notes. Both Sanctuary and History Repeating definetly bring on the emotions quite a bit, and be warned are dark as hell at times (mainly the end of History Repeating). Though in between there's lots of lovely friendship and interactions between the Hex Girls, each perfectly in character. And oh just go read them already!

Also she and two friends (whose names I forgot, sorry!) actually did quite a bloody good Hex Girls cosplay, search InfiniteAngel Hex Girls cosplay on google and it should come up. Failing that they're on the facebook page for her cosplay. So I have to naturally mention that to. Would be amiss for me to not with me prior recommending her two Hex Girls fanfics and this being a author's note in a Hex Girls fanfic.

Anyway on with the much delayed chapter 11!

* * *

Four years after Luna's and Dusk's first day at Oakhaven High School…

* * *

"We've just landed at Sydney Airport and we're taxing over to gate 6 now folks." came a distinctly Scottish voice over an intercom system. "Please do not stand or open any overhead luggage compartments until we stop moving. And from me and the crew thank you for flying with us today and we hope you enjoy your time in Australia."

"Luna we're here." spoke the ever familiar voice of Dusk as Luna felt her self being lightly shoke.

"Ugh." muttered the keyboard player tiredly in reply as she opened her eyes to reveal the ugly blue fabric of the back of an airliner seat in front of her, complete with its faded grey foldout table. "What's the time?"

"How the hell would I know? We only just landed." answered Dusk in annoyance, before pointing at the small circular airliner window. "See."

Luna turned her head to look where Dusk was pointing. Sure enough out of the window she could see the runway of the airport slowly passing by, scorching sunlight shinning down on the ugly rugged black tarmac.

"You ok Luna?" asked Thorn, peaking her head round the side of Dusk to look over at her.

"Yeah, just the first time I've been on an airplane." replied Luna, feeling sick, tired and hot…and not the good kind of hot. Wearing a leather jacket and skirt on a trip to Australia was not a good idea on her part.

"Well don't worry, plane's just taxiing to the gate right now." said Thorn with a caring, almost motherly smile. "We'll be getting off soon."

"You haven't been on an airplane before?" asked Dusk in confusion.

"Yes." affirmed Luna in annoyance. "I thought I made that pretty clear when we were waiting in the lounge before takeoff."

"Dusk wouldn't have heard you Luna, remember she was too busy flirting with that hippy guy she was talking to." said Thorn with a giggle. "The one who kept going on and on about the Loch Ness Monster."

"I wasn't flirting!" retorted Dusk in annoyance. "He was just interesting to talk with."

"Oh sure. That's totally why you were fluttering your eye lashes at him." teased Thorn, receiving a punch on the arm from Dusk in return.

"Oww! What the hell was that for!" responded Thorn, her eyes piercing into Dusk.

"Being a bitch." replied Dusk with a smirk.

"Darlings you're really ruining the rhythm here." said Gus Boggs from behind them, his and Bond's seats being directly behind theirs in the centre of the isle. "Pray think first class of an aircraft is not the place for ratter tat tatting."

"Also known as stop fighting, please." added Bond, translating the manager's lingo.

"Fine." replied Dusk as she turned away from Thorn to look back out the window. Thorn merely let out a divaish huff in reply.

Great thought Luna. Now not only did she feel air-sick and tired, not only was the sun scorching hot but now Thorn and Dusk were also in pissy moods. Just what she needed on her first visit to the land down under.

* * *

Dusk frowned as she leant against the wall outside the women's toilet in the baggage collection area. She hated being in a crowd and that's just what the baggage collection area was, one big crowd of anonymous unknown people with all the noise which came with it.

Hopefully Luna would finish throwing up soon so the two of them could head back over to Thorn, Gus and Bond by the baggage conveyor belt things. Being in a crowd by herself always made her feel nervous, and a bit threatened.

Not that anyone was going to approach or harass her or anything, the wide birth they kept taking to avoid her causing Dusk to smirk. Definitely looked like she picked the right outfit for the trip.

The drummer had her blonde hair untied from its usual pigtails and was wearing a simple black t-shirt, studded black leather gloves, leather pants done up with a studded leather belt, her usual studded choker and to top it off a pair of black platform boots for that little extra bit of height. That combined with her usual frown and glare no doubt made her look unapproachable, if not intimidating to most of the passing crowd.

It also served as a disguise, not that Dusk saw any point at all in needing one. Last she checked most of their fans lived in America, Britain or Canada and there had been barely announcement that they were playing at the Vampire Rock Music Festival. So it wasn't like they'd get swarmed by fans or something stupid like that, but Thorn had insisted so Dusk had gone along with it.

Much like how Thorn had insisted they go to an interview later in the day that Gus had arranged with some TV channel, despite how much Dusk hated interviews. They always felt like interrogations, almost as if she was on trial.

A few minutes passed and then the crowd began to thin, most people having already picked up their suitcases and exited the baggage collection area. Now Dusk could clearly see Thorn, Gus and Bond standing over by one of the baggage conveyor belts, by the looks of things waiting for the final suitcase to appear on the machine.

Her sister was wearing, as usual, a form fitting black dress. Though unlike usual this dress wasn't V-necked at all and was done up by a zip and several buckles which ran up the front of the dress, each buckle done up tightly in order to accentuate her body. The guitarist was also wearing black elbow length buckled fingerless gloves, said buckles making the gloves fit her slender arms snugly, her usual red bat necklace, black and red striped tights and a pair of black platform boots near identical to the pair Dusk was wearing. The outfit was a lot less revealing than Thorn's usual clothing, though at the same time it still made her look striking and beautiful.

"Ugh." said Luna as she exited the toilet, snapping Dusk from her prior thoughts.

"You ok now?" asked the drummer caringly.

"Yeah, mostly." answered Luna in reply. ""The janitor isn't going to be later though when they see the mess they have to clean up." Dusk unable to stop herself smirking in response to the comment.

"We've collected all the suitcases now girls, ready to head through the security gate?" interupted Bond, who had appeared silently next to them. Or at least silently enough that Dusk hadn't noticed her.

"We're ready." replied Dusk eagerly, happy that they'd soon be exchanging the crowded airport for a cozy luxury hotel.

* * *

Two hours later…

* * *

The ensuite bathroom of the hotel room was quite sizeable, complete with all the amenities a girl or guy could want. A sink complete with a separate wash basin for washing one's feet, a large mirror complete with a long table beneath it for applying makeup, a shower with plenty of room to move around in, a bathtub so long that even Lurch of the Addams Family could lie down in it uncramped, hot tub and the obligatory toilet hidden off to the side of the room by a cubicle surrounding it, so not to have it ruin the picturesqueness of the rest of the bathroom.

Thorn couldn't help but smile at the sight. This was one of her favourite things about being a rockstar outside of the concerts, getting to live it up in the best of the best hotels. Even if most of the hotel's interior designs were hideously modern in style.

Oh sure it hadn't been like that in the beginning when they had to stay in relatively average hotels, but now that they'd become pretty successful they could afford it…or rather Decade Records was willing to pay for it because, as Alastair joked "Because you're worth it."

Naturally though what she was interested in was the hot tub. She had come to adore hot tubs, especially after the tiring trip to Australia. Sitting next to Dusk on a plane for however many hours it had been was quite the trying experience. Since as much as she loved Dusk, whom had come to be like a sister to her, the drummer was way too easy to annoy or anger and fidgeted all the time.

Then after stripping down Thorn stepped down into the hot tub and sat on the curved seated bit that ran around the edge of the tub, sighing as she felt the heat and steam of the hot tub embrace her slender body and she lay back against it. Her now partially wetted raven black and red hair clinging to her shoulders.

Admittedly the guitarist didn't make to full use of the facilities of the more luxury hotels they stayed in. Her sisters did but Thorn preferred to spend her time relaxing in the hot tubs. Mainly since she found the steam helped her vocal cords much like her potions did whilst required less effort to set up on her part. Though occasionally she did whip up a bit of perfume to dump in the water. The smell of peppermint and cloves combined with the soothing heat and bubbles did absolute wonders for both her throat and the rest of her body.

That and nothing was better after a concert or long trip than relaxing in a hot tub, letting the exhaustion and stress in her life wither and bubble away into nothingness.

When Alastair and her bought a house together someday it was totally going to have a hot tub, many many hot tubs…

Knock knock knock!

"What is it!" yelled the guitarist in what would be visible irration, if another soul had been present, at the sudden knocking on her bathroom door.

"You've got a parcel Thorn." answered the calm voice of Bond from the other side of the door.

"Oh." replied Thorn, still annoyed at being snapped from her trance of relaxation. "Just leave it on the vanity table!"

"Will do." replied the roadie.

The guitarist didn't even wonder for a second who the parcel was from. It'd be Alastair, it was always Alastair. He took the whole "treat your girlfriend nice" a bit too far. Not that Thorn minded of course, she just hoped the gift wouldn't be yet more jewellery this time around.

There was only so much jewellery a girl could have, let alone want, and her gifts from her British boyfriend had exceeded that number long ago.

* * *

Forty minutes later…

* * *

 _To my beautiful rockstar, Sally_

 _I sincerely hope you enjoy your time in Australia. Beautiful country, as I know from when my family has visited there once in the past. Lovely beaches, sparkling seas, world famous tourist attractions and a unique ecological landscape unlike anywhere else on Earth. Ok it is filled with wildlife which wants to murder you but everything has its flaws. Think of it as a holiday of sorts, a bit of rest after your recent tour across America and Canada._

 _I myself shall be getting little rest in comparison. University is quite the time consuming effort, quite the amount of boredom too though I suppose I did not pick the most exciting degree in the world. Quite the comparison isn't it? You become a rockstar whilst I'm aiming to become an architect. You'll be making the entertainment and I'll be making the venues you entertain in haha._

 _Anyway I do hope you like the dress I sent you with his letter. Yes I know its purple, a colour you are not super fond of on you, but I thought it'd look good on you. Plus it'll surprise your fans and the music media, seeing you wear something which isn't black. Hopefully it's the right size too, since I admittedly forgot your measurements. And if not maybe it'll fit Luna haha!_

 _Anyway hope you enjoy your time in Australia, especially the Vampire Rock Music Festival itself (both preforming at and watching the contestant unsigned bands)._

 _Love from Alastair_

 _Do remember to apply/use sunscreen whilst you are there. Don't want to ruin your ethereally pale skin now do you?_

Thorn sighed as she put down the letter after finishing reading it for the sixth time. She couldn't help it, she missed him greatly.

 _The_ gothic musician had seen little of her long time best friend and boyfriend since she'd begun her career as a rockstar. Bar Christmas there was no regular time she saw him. Sure Alastair had regularly visited Oakhaven in the summer, on break from university, but Thorn had regularly been on tours in the summer. And whilst now that he had finished university her boyfriend came home to visit more often Thorn was often on tour or preforming at a concert somewhere.

Of course Thorn had made an attempt to fix the problem of herself and Alastair being apart so often. After talking with Gus Boggs, who was still their faithful manager after all this time, she'd offered Alastair the opportunity to be a roadie of sorts. Not to replace Bond Kuro of course, Thorn wouldn't dream of replacing the yellow clad girl, but to aid and spread out the workload.

The two of them would be able to see each other every day. Thorn had been sure Alastair would accept the offer.

But he didn't.

Alastair's reasons were perfectly reasonable and understandable. He already had several construction projects under way in Russia that he was involved in, as the architect. He's not the most social person and would hate the loud noise and atmosphere of a concert. He would distract her, and her distract him, from their respective tasks/jobs. He knew little to nothing about the music industry and roadie-esc stuff.

It was just that Thorn had naively come to and accepted in her mind the conclusion that Alastair would accept the offer. She was always far too foolishly optimistic.

"Thorn! We're heading to the interview in ten minutes!" called Bond from outside her hotel room door, startling the rockstar as she did so.

"Okay!" called back Thorn, having been snapped from her train of thought.

The rockstar then glanced over at the dress Alastair had sent her along with the letter, the object of clothing lying on a vanity table below a mirror. It was like her usual black dress in every way, except it was purple. Even the size was the same, surprising Thorn that he remembered her measurements so perfectly. It was sweet in a way, maybe a bit creepy too that her boyfriend remembered them so accurately but sweet none the less.

Though the dress really wasn't the sort of thing she wore. She wore dark coloured clothing. The dress however was a light shade of purple, not even Luna wore colours that light.

Alastair had however gone through all the effort of buying the dress, getting the size right and sending it all the way to her. It'd be a bit rude not to at least wear it a couple times, especially since Thorn had been the one to suggest if Alastair was going to buy her gifts he buy her clothes instead of yet more jewellery.

Thorn then headed over and picked up the dress. She'd at least wear it to the interview, Alastair would likely see it then and see she appreciated the gift. Since Thorn knew her boyfriend watched most of their interviews.

And if nothing else it'd provide a different talking point from the usual dull topics and questions.

Maybe it'd even help divert attention from the whole silly "Thorn of the Hex Girls is a Vampire" conspiracy theory the tabloids just didn't want to let go of, thought Thorn as she opened her mouth and bared her fangs at the mirror in preparation for the interview, smirking slightly at the thought of the unintended compliment. It was quite flattering that people thought she pulled off the vampire look so well, even if that caused them to harp on about a rumour that was obviously not true.

But silly tabloid rumours aside Alastair had said in his letter to think of the trip as a holiday, and holidays meant relaxing. So why not relax and try out her new dress in public?

* * *

Luna let out a yawn, stretching her arms above her head as she did so. The keyboard player couldn't help it, she was still tired from the flight. She hadn't slept a single wink unlike her fellow Hex Girls. Airplanes and her did obviously not mix well at all.

Though as far as studios that Luna had been interviewed went this was a pretty nice one. She was sitting on comfortable long red couch which curved slightly, as did the large glass window behind it. The view was magnificent, the entirety of Sidney harbour laid out in front of you…or rather behind you as it'd be for Luna throughout the interview. To the left of the couch was an as of now empty chair, presumably where the interviewer would sit. Meanwhile on the opposite end of the room were several cameras alongside their cameramen, sound devices, network staff hurrying about, thousands of wires criss-crossing across the floor and Gus and Bond talking off to the side of the leftmost camera.

Seated to Luna's right was Dusk, who was fiddling with her pale hands. No doubt the drummer was nervous, much like she had been in their past interviews. Not that it was Dusk's fault at all, she just wasn't a person who was that sociable outside of her close friends and that was perfectly fine…admittedly it was a bit of a handicap for a rockstar but lessened by the fact that she was the drummer and backup singer, and not the main lead.

Seated to Luna's left was Thorn in her new purple dress, the guitarist sitting in such a position that gave off the air that she was showing both the new dress and herself off. Which knowing Thorn was definitively the case. Thorn loved and took the newfound attention they now received with ease. The black and red haired rockstar practically basked in it the attention, her movement and mannerisms in the studio as vampiric and confidently seductive as she was on the stage.

Needless to say, based on research done by Gus Boggs, Thorn was the most popular of the three Hex Girls amongst their fans. Not that Luna minded. That kind of attention was not her thing, and neither was flocks of guys, and the occasional girl, almost drooling at the sight of her Luna's thing either…unlike Thorn where it was totally her thing.

Though Luna couldn't help but feel Thorn was trying to steal her thunder a bit by wearing purple version of her usually black dress. That was her colour!

Of course she knew the feeling was silly, it was just a fashion change. Not like Thorn was going to dye her hair orange as well…right? Right?

"Ready to be in-ter-viewed darlings?" asked Gus, putting an almost fabulous emphasis on interviewed and snapping Luna from her thoughts.

"Yeah." replied Dusk, looking up from fiddling with her hands with a timid fanged smile.

"Obviously Gus, interviews are always killer fun." replied Thorn confidently as she raised her hand to examine her fingernails, for what felt to Luna like the hundredth time.

"When's it start?" asked Luna, noting the lack of anyone who looked like an interviewer in the room.

"Whenever the silly dilly decides to grove their way over here." answered Gus, beginning to shake his hips slightly as he spoke. A mannerism Luna barely noticed now, having got used to how their manager commonly seemed to dance to music only he could hear.

"You mean they aren't here already?" questioned Thorn in annoyance, her scowl revealing the shining ends of her fangs.

"Yes darling, that's what I meant." replied their manager, smiling apologetically at Thorn. "I know it ruins the tempo, but there's nothing I can do chicklet."

Thorn merely let out a divaish sign in response. Luna knew her sister was used to being the one calling the shots, and thus hated to have to wait on someone else.

Not that Luna minded. The wait further delayed the trip through the outback they'd be embarking on later, a trip which none of the Hex Girls were not looking forward to, given how badly each of them faired in hot sunny weather.

Luna then smirked to herself. Looks like the three of them were too vampiric in their looks and mannerisms for their own good!

* * *

Four minutes later…

* * *

The interviewer had finally arrived and the interview was about to begin, much to Luna's happiness as she was sick of Thorn's constant complaining for the past four minutes.

The interviewer was an Asian woman named Nancy. She had dark eyes, long black hair woman pale skin that was on par with the paleness of the Hex Girls themselves. She was wearing a simple knee-length red skirt, black leather jacket black high heel ankle boots. Seemed like a nice person from how she'd apologized upon arrival…well that or she was trying not to lose her job. The later the more like of the two options.

"And 3…2…1 and we're live!" called one of the various staff littered around the studio.

"Good morning Australia." greeted Nancy, body turned to both face and smile at the camera. "I'm Nancy Chang coming to you live from our studio in Sydney, with none of than the Hex Girls!" Nancy motioned to the three of them as she finished, cameras following suit.

Each of the Hex Girls then smiled at the camera in what could only be called a vampiric fashion, their fake fangs shining in the bright studio lights.

"So girls what brings you to the land down under?" asked Nancy, holding out the microphone towards them as she spoke.

"Well Nancy we're here to open this year's Vampire Rock Music Festival, as the only signed band there." answered Thorn with a fanged smile. "And afterwards we'll be playing at concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth."

"We actually intended to enter the contest a year or so ago, but couldn't since we discovered it's only for unsigned bands." explained Luna, feigning disappointment. "So it'll be nice to get a chance to play at the festival after all."

"And all those attending the festival will be getting a special treat." said Thorn, a fanged smirk gracing on her porcelain features. "The debut performance of what will be our latest single, as of yet unreleased."

And our first public performance of Getaway Yeah, thought Luna. Not that it was worth mentioning considering the song had already debuted on their last album, Ghoulfriends.

"Oh how exciting." replied Nancy excitedly, vague enough that Luna was unable to tell if her remark was genuine or not. "Anything you can tell us about it?"

"It's a lot simpler than our previous songs." explained Luna. "More memorable though, has a nice hook to it."

"Though Luna and I only worked on the melody for it. Dusk was the one who singlehandedly wrote the actual lyrics." added Thorn as she pointed over at Dusk, her movements simple yet salacious.

"Really Dusk?" asked Nancy as she held her microphone out towards Dusk, the focus of the cameras following suit.

"Yeah…but it is a pretty simple song." replied Dusk as she fiddled with one of her pigtails, a hint of nervous stutter in her voice at becoming the focus of both the cameras and interviewer.

"But more catchy." added Thorn, rescuing Dusk from the cameras as they immediately focused back on the raven haired beauty. "Hell of a lot of fun to sing too."

"Well I'm sure everyone attending the festival will be excited to see its debut." said Nancy, her tone transitional. "There was a rumour about there being an in-band argument during the recording of the album. Any truth in that rumour?"

"There was a brief disagreement at one point." answered Thorn, putting a noticeable emphasis on the word brief.

"But we got over it." added Luna dismissively, not pleased that the minor argument she had had with Thorn was being brought up in such a public way. Now she understood why Alastair's father refused to attend interviews. "After all friends may fight but true friends always make up stick together in the end."

"Especially when it was an incredibly minor incident." said Thorn, her choice of words sounding like something Alastair would say.

"Words of wisdom right there folks." said Nancy causing Luna to blush incredibly lightly in embarrassment. "Anyway people have been wondering what the story is behind the song The Meddling Kids, which debuted on your Ghoulfriends album." said Nancy, taking the hint and swiftly moving on from the previous topic. "Care to share what it is about?"

"Oh it's just about some people we met once." answered Luna as the microphone was still pointed at her. "Back before our first concert."

"Yeah they helped out with a bit of a trouble the town was having. Nothing big really." said Thorn dismissively, a bit too dismissively for Luna's liking.

Then again what else would they say? Hey these people helped us defeat an evil ghost witch who was attempting to destroy Oakhaven and the entire world? Of course not, that'd make them sound nuts!

Luna then blanked out a bit as more questions were asked, letting Thorn bathe in the spotlight whilst Luna did the disinterested rockstar routine and gave short brief answers if asked.

She did occasionally, usually when she remembered the Witch's Ghost incident, wonder how Mystery Inc. was doing. Luna hadn't seen in them since a couple days after the incident, when they left after their van got repaired, thanks to it slipping everyone's minds to exchange contact details.

"Lovely dress you're wearing by the way." commented Nancy to Thorn, snapping Luna from her disinterested daze.

"Thanks Nancy. My boyfriend bought me it." said Thorn as she ran a hand through her hair, purposely so it fell elegantly back down into place.

"Boyfriend?" inquired Nancy, her lips curled in a smile.

"Yeah we've been together for quite a few years now. Though we knew each other long before we began dating." answered Thorn happily. "He's the one who bought us our instruments in the first place, got them as a Christmas present to each of us."

"So he was the one to spark the idea to form a band?" asked Nancy, Luna glad the interviewer appeared to be moving away from the subject of relationships.

"Nope." answered Dusk bluntly.

"We would always work on projects and assignments in music class together. Where we all worked great together musically." elaborated Luna. "And we'd entertained the idea of forming a band a few times, but couldn't afford the instruments ourselves."

"Though in the beginning it was more of a hobby. Every weekend and some weekdays we'd get together and practice, just a fun thing to do together." added Thorn. "We didn't consider pursuing it as a career till way later."

"Ah quite the humble origin to the band then." said Nancy with what appeared to be a genuinely kind smile, before pointing the microphone over at the two backup singers. "So what about you Dusk and Luna? Any boyfriends?"

Luna felt incredibly put on the spot and embarrassed by the question. Sure the answer was no, but she couldn't just say that live on TV. She was getting to understand why Dusk hated interviews now, the drummer's description of them as 'interrogations' as apt indeed.

"No…but they're looking." answered Thorn with a wink at the camera as she butted into the question.

"Well you heard it here first folks." declared Nancy as she turned to face the camera.

Meanwhile Thorn turned to give a fanged smirk of amusement at her sisters. Luna just frowned back at her, Dusk no doubt glaring back.

"Anyway that's all we have time for today." said Nancy to the camera, Luna thankful that the interview was drawing to a close instead of producing yet more intrusive questions.

"Hope you enjoyed this interview with the spooky stars who were our guests today." continued Nancy, the three Hex Girls waving goodbye and baring their fangs at the camera as it panned over to face them as the interviewer spoke. "And from all of us at the studio we hope you have a great day Australia!"

* * *

Two days later…

* * *

"Wait you're not coming with us?" asked Luna in confusion, as she stood on the pavement outside the hotel beside Dusk and Gus. In between them was three suitcases stacked in a pile, with their instruments and Thorn's guitar stored safely in their cases next to it.

"Why not?" asked Dusk with slight hostility in her voice.

"Well dears Thorn insisted, and I do mean insisted, I take a brief holiday rather than come with you." answered Gus Boggs, before leaning over and whispering in their ears. "Pray think she wants the festival be a more casual thing, just you three like the old days."

"Ah." said Luna in reply, understanding what the manager meant. Bond had already left for the aforementioned beach herself, also convinced to take a holiday by Thorn.

"Besides it means I get to spend an utterly disgusting amount of time at Bondi Beach." said Gus with a big smile as he began shaking from side to side once more.

"So who's taking us to the concert?" asked Dusk cautiously.

"A man called Russell; quite the handsome darling. He's the business partner of Daniel, organiser of the festival." answered Gus as he looked down the road. "Should be here soon."

"He better be." said Thorn, startling the two eco-goths and band manager with her sudden presence behind them. "Better not be like that interview again."

"I honestly can't see why that tittle delay ruined your tempo so much chicklet." said Gus as he spun around to face her, almost as if he was doing a dance move.

Thorn looked like she was about to reply when a grey SUV pulled up and stopped on the road in front of them. The right hand window then rolled down to reveal the driver (because Australia drives on the correct side of the road, anything else would be quite frankly Napoleonic…please say someone got that joke), a smiling lightly tanned blond haired guy who looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s.

"Hello Russell darling, lovely to see you again."

"G'day guys." replied Russell in greeting. "Boot's open, you can put your suitcase and instruments in there."

"Why so hasty? asked Gus as Luna and Dusk picked up the box containg the blonde's drum kit and carried round to the back of the car, Thorn following behind with her guitar case…of course she'd opt to carry the lightweight piece of luggage. "Plenty of time for a chat."

"I would talk more Gus but I'm in a bit of a rush." replied Russell as the Hex Girls deposited the two instruments in the back of the vehicle, after opening the boot door of course.

The car boot had been almost empty, though the objects which were in it struck the orange haired young woman as being a bit odd. A of currently blank projector slides, two coils of climbing rope and a tub of costume makeup.

Then again the costume makeup was probably just being picked up for one of the preforming bands, same for the slides and the climbing rope was probably for the stage hands so they wouldn't fall whilst setting up the stage scaffolding. Nothing nefarious on Russell's part.

"Why so?" asked the Gus in confusion as he picked up two suitcases and carried them round to the back of the car whilst the Hex Girls went back for the remaining suitcase and instrument.

"There's been an accident on the route I was planning to take out of Sydney, so we have to take a detour which goes quite out of the way." said Russell as Thorn helped Luna carry her encased keyboard to the boot whilst Dusk took the suitcase. "Need to leave quick if me and your spooky girls don't want to end up sleeping in the middle of the desert."

"Pray think you are well reasoned Russell." said Gus as he opened the back seat door of the SUV to allow the three gothic musicians to get in to it.

"See you Gus." said Thorn, now seated in between Dusk and Luna…like usual. "Enjoy the holiday."

"I shall Thorn dear. You darlings take care of yourselves now." said Gus with a smile before he shut the door, sealing the three Hex Girls in the thankfully air conditioned vehicle.

"You three comfortable back there?" asked Russell as he turned to look back over his shoulder at the three of them.

"Fine." answered Luna, smiling back at their blonde haired driver.

"Well then let's go to the rock show." said Russell as he turned back around and started the SUV's engine up, each Hex Girl waving at their manager through the window as the vehicle began driving away.

* * *

Six hours later…

* * *

Luna sighed as she watched yet another bush go past the car window. They'd been speeding along the faded tarmac road through the dust and sand of the outback for what seemed like years. At first it had been cool, seeing an entirely new landscape and enviroment for the first time. Now however it was just dull and boring

"Just twenty kilometres to go now girls." said Russell, snapping Luna from her rambling thoughts. Out the window she could see a large sign confirming the driver's remark:

 _Vampire Rock_

 _20 km_

Finally they'd arrive at the festival site. She couldn't wait for the upcoming week, a week of life far away from a city or town.

Just herself, Dusk and Thorn and Mother Nature…well and the competing bands, stage hands and two concert organisers too. Regardless nothing would ruin this upcoming week.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ A brief final minor note. Thorn's deceased mother's name has been changed from Veronica to June in all prior chapters. I felt it fits better and is a nice little reference to how the ever amazing Jennifer Hale voiced both Thorn in Scooby Doo and the character June from Avatar The Last Airbender. No other changes to any of the previous chapters were made other than the correction of spellings and typos (though I imagine I still missed some).


End file.
